The RFU 's centenary year was 1971 when England struggled to overcome Japan 6 – 3 in Tokyo . Nevertheless , England had wins against southern hemisphere teams that decade ; with victories over South Africa in 1972 , New Zealand in 1973 and Australia in 1976 ( albeit losing twice to the Wallabies in previous weeks ) . The 1972 Five Nations Championship was not completed due to the Troubles in Northern Ireland . Following the British embassy in Dublin being burnt down by a mob after Bloody Sunday , and threatening letters being sent to players , Scotland and Wales refused to play their Five Nations away fixtures in Ireland . England played in Dublin the following year and were given a standing ovation that lasted for five minutes . After losing 18 – 9 at Lansdowne Road , the England captain , John Pullin famously stated , " We might not be very good but at least we turned up . " Thanks to a 9 – 8 ( three penalties to two tries ) victory against a 14-man Wales , England started the decade with a Grand Slam victory in the 1980 Five Nations – their first for 23 years . This earned England their first BBC Sports Personality of the Year Team Award . The victory was something of a false dawn and the remainder of the decade was not a great period for the England team . The subsequent Championship of 1981 was less successful for England , winning two of their four games , and was followed up with a draw and win against Argentina . England kicked off 1982 with a victory over the Wallabies in a tight game , winning 15 to 11 in England ; the game was made famous by Erica Roe 's famous streak across the pitch . Their Five Nations campaign was similarly successful , drawing with Scotland , losing to Ireland , and victories over France and Wales . At the match banquet after the win against France in Paris , there was a complimentary bottle of cologne next to each player 's place at the table . Second row Maurice Colclough emptied the flask and refilled it with wine , which he then drank . Team-mate Colin Smart saw only Colclough seemingly sink a bottle of cologne and decided to follow suit . Within an hour he was on his way to hospital to have his stomach pumped , although as scrum-half Steve Smith pointed out : ' He may have been unwell , but Colin had the nicest breath I 've smelt . ' In the 1983 Five Nations England failed to win a game and picked up the wooden spoon . This inadvertently lead to the formation of the Rugby charity the Wooden Spoon Society . England drew Wales and lost their other three matches , although they completed the year with an impressive 15 – 9 victory over the All Blacks in England . England improved slightly in the following Five Nations , but still managed only one win . That year the Springboks put 35 points on England in two tests in South Africa , and the Wallabies defeated them at Twickenham . 1985 started with a close win over Romania , followed by a Five Nations draw with France . After a win over Scotland , England succumbed to losses against Ireland and Wales in their remaining Five Nations fixtures . England then lost twice to the All Blacks on tour to New Zealand - 18 – 13 , and a convincing 42 – 15
Bloody Sunday
Bloody Sunday (1972)
History of the England national rugby union team