Six Nations team of the championship.

[All Blacks nil]

15- Halfpenny- Wales
French and Italians didn't count . Kearney was solid, Halfpenny was consistent throughout and for me beats off Brown and Hogg.
14 Watson- England
Not a vintage year for wings with only England playing consistent open rugby. Bowe had a quiet tournament for Ireland, as had North until the Italian try fest. Watson benefitted from the positive approach taken by the English side and is my choice.
13. Joseph England
Bennett really announced himself on the international stage and looks a decent international. Payne and Davies never shone so Joseph has to get the nod for his elusive running, strength and tryscoring. Some say when up against a "real" defence he did nothing. Well not too many did anything against real defences before the last round and his 4 tries in the first 4 games compared well with Ireland 4, France 4, Wales and Scotland 5 and Italy on 6 tries.
12 Henshaw Ireland
Even though I would still like to see him at outside centre, a decent first six nations and was in my book the best of a uninspiring lot. Burrell looked dangerous for England but was definitely the butcher of this Six Nations.
11 Nowell England
Didn't play every game but replaced the woeful Johnny May after a couple of games. lack of height against him v Ireland but was positive in everything he did and popped up on shoulders everywhere.
10 Ford England
Not to be taken as a slight against Johnny but this guy was outstanding. Statistically impressive with 2 tries, 7 assist, 8 linebreaks, 278 metres gained, his mindset (ran the ball more often than he kicked it) helped England to play a lovely brand of rugby. Consistently attacked and created space. Often got on the ball in open play and was proof of the old adage, "if my outhalf touched the ball twice in a move we'll score, if he touched it 3\three times he'll score". England, partly by default, have found a serious player. Qwen who? Biggar and Sexton had decent tournaments.
9 Youngs England
only three real contenders with Murray and to a lesser degree Webb having decent tournaments, Youngs finished the tournament on a high with 2 MOTM (one questionable) in the final 2 games.
8 Falateau Wales
In a tournament where Billy V catches the eye when on the ball both Heaslip and Falateau, while less flash, are more effective in all other aspects of play. Falateau gets the nod, although Jamie's crucial tackle on Hogg will live in the memory.
7 Warburton Wales
Always immense, SOB's tour the force in the finale a highlight but Warburton was excellent throughout.
6 O'Mahony Ireland
To be honest, I am sitting here trying to be as objective as possible and looking for a reason not to pick a Munster player. then you think, Italy -no, Scotland -no, England -Haskell? no, Wales - Lydiate- hmm- no France - no. POM was consistent throughout with my only real criticism of him being his ineffective carrying v Wales. Then again that applied to anyone in a green jersey that day.
5 O'Connell Ireland
Leadership alone would earn his place. set the tone for the final day "run chase" by scoring his try and hardly acknowledging the fact as he retreated to continue the job. Sets the tone for everything Ireland do on and off the park.
4 Charteris Wales
if only for his defensive display v ireland. To make 31 tackles in a match is stupendous , but to make 31 tackles and not miss one is off the charts.
3 Ross Ireland
Hard to believe that he was written off pre-tournament by many of the Leinster faithful. Joe shows he is probably a better judge of a prop than many and certainly than MOC. Every construction is built around a cornerstone and Ross was that for the Irish.
2 Guirado France
Hard one to choose with no outstanding candidate. Apart from the italian game the French lineout was excellent. He showed up well on Saturday and showed great hands and awareness in executing a perfect 2 on 1 pass, and offloading another pass to create tries for France. Ghilardini did well for Italy.
1 McGrath Ireland
A great tournament although unlucky to be dropped for a returning Healy.

This is a team of the tournament, as in how players played in this particular tournament. Would this my lions first XV (leaving out the French hooker)? No

5 Irish, 5 English, 4 Welsh and 1 French is a fair reflection of how the tournament panned out.

[Donny B.]

The exciting but flaky Ford over Sexton is an odd one but Youngs over Webb or Murray is just plain nuts. He had one good game against a French team who had given up tackling!

He showed against Ireland yet again that he's useless when not behind a dominant pack.

[All Blacks nil]

The exciting but flaky Ford over Sexton is an odd one but Youngs over Webb or Murray is just plain nuts. He had one good game against a French team who had given up tackling!

He showed against Ireland yet again that he's useless when not behind a dominant pack.

Firstly, if your forward eight are milled in an international it is highly unlikely your outhalf will turn the tide. sometimes he will reduce the damage but if your pack are milled you will not win.

When you say flaky Ford I assume you mean the 21 year old's game v Ireland where his pack was minced. I assume you don't mean the away match in Cardiff where despite his tender age and it being his first start in the 6 Nations he led his team to victory. Forward exchanges on the day were even at best and certainly Ford was not behind a dominant pack. Contrast that to Johnny's decidedly "flaky" performance behind a completely dominant pack at the same venue.

Surely Ford's statistics of 2 tries, 8 assists, 278 metres carried, 8 clean breaks, 15 defenders beaten, 9 offloads, and 36/8 tackles/ missed tackles compares more than favourably to
Sexton's 0 tries, 1 assist, 89 metres carried, 0 clean breaks, 1 defender beaten, 1 offload, and 23/6 tackles/missed tackles.

Sexton's placekicking percentage was better 22/26 v 25/33.

Check out Johnny's stats from last season and even allowing for a change in style there is some drop off.
4 tries, 0 assists, 222 metres carried, 5 clean breaks, 7 defenders beaten and 2 offloads. 40/3 tackles/missed tackles.

I know statistics can sometimes disguise the truth but I don't think too many would have Sexton over Ford in a team of the tournament. Johnny had a poor day in Wales (behind a dominant pack). Johnny had the edge on Ford, especially physically ,in the English game although Ford behind a dominated pack still had a decent game.

Anyway, I've put up a team, and you have put up your objections. Well done.

[JB1973]

halfpenny
Watson
joseph
Roberts
liam Williams
ford
murray

McGrath
Ghilardin
cole

awj
poc

sob
warburton
toby f


sexton is the better 10 but he missed a game and a half through injury and by his standards had a shocker vs wales.

Ford was outstanding in 4 out fo 5 games, his passing is a joy to watch he will a superstar in years to come

[offshorerules]

Here's Planet Rugby's selection.


15 Stuart Hogg (Scotland): To get the nod despite your team having lost five out of five in the Championship says a great deal about how well Hogg played. Topped the metres made charts - 99 more than closes rival Scott Spedding - the Scot also beat the most defenders and sees off the solid Leigh Halfpenny, who kicked at over 80 percent this tournament and was brave throughout.

14 Yoann Huget (France): France's most dangerous player and easily their best player in the competition, outperforming the other 14s. Anthony Watson has a bright future ahead of him while George North impressed late on with his hat-trick against Italy.

13 Jonathan Joseph (England): Superb from the off in the English midfield. Manu Tuilagi will have a job wrestling the thirteen jersey back off Joseph, who ended on top of the try-scoring pile with four. Quick feet and serious speed out of the blocks, he sees off Italy's Luca Morisi, Wales' Jonathan Davies and Scotland's Mark Bennett, who were all deadly. It was a hotly contested jersey.

12 Robbie Henshaw (Ireland): The Irish young gun holds off Jamie Roberts for the inside centre berth after a breakout tournament. Scored Ireland's crucial try in the win over England and was near the top of the stats for carries and defenders beaten. Ireland's future in midfield.

11 Jack Nowell (England): Stuart Lancaster made the bold call to drop Jonny May and bring in Nowell and it proved the right one. The Exeter Chief has so much potential and added tries - three of them - to his hard-working game this Six Nations. As confidence grows, he will build on his impressive metres made, line breaks and defenders beaten statistics, all of those categories seeing him finish in the top five spots.

10 Jonathan Sexton (Ireland): A very tight call in the end between Sexton and England's George Ford, who has come on leaps and bounds over the last few weeks and shown a great attacking ability at Test level. But Sexton's assuredness and all-round class win him the spot, even after having an off day in Cardiff. Dan Biggar also had a good tournament.

9 Ben Youngs (England): What a tournament from the Leicester number nine. He got better with each game, finishing against France in superb form as he scored two and set up one. Youngs' Six Nations has surely led to him nailing down the starting jersey for the Rugby World Cup as he beats Ireland's Conor Murray to our scrum-half position. Rhys Webb also impressed, finishing with three tries to his name.

8 Taulupe Faletau (Wales)%u200B: Holding off the challenge of Billy Vunipola, who has come on leaps and bounds by playing 400 minutes in this year's tournament and with his improved work-rate, Faletau is the most underrated player in the Six Nations. Consistently outstanding at the breakdown, in the loose and at the set-piece.

7 Sam Warburton (Wales): Looks in excellent physical condition at the moment and seems to have added a yard of pace too. Warburton, like Wales, will look back to that second-half against England in Cardiff as where it all went wrong but the flanker can be proud of his efforts as he put in tireless shifts in red. Thierry Dusautoir was his closest challenger while Sean O'Brien improved match by match.

6 Peter O'Mahony (Ireland): Tackles like a maniac and his engine never stops. O'Mahony has emerged as a key leader for Ireland, espeically when being the experienced head playing alongside Tommy O'Donnell and Jordi Murphy, while being a great asset at the lineout and breakdown.

5 Paul O'Connell (Ireland): Surely there's at least one more Six Nations in O'Connell's tank? In this kind of towering form, Irish's bosses must do everything in their power to persuade him to play on after the World Cup. Of course it's his call but his showings this Six Nations - and another trophy in the cabinet - might leave him feeling he can go on. Crucially got the try ball rolling for his country at Murrayfield in Round Five.

4 Alun Wyn Jones (Wales): We couldn't leave out with Jones or O'Connell so both of the British and Irish Lions Test pairing are in. No one was more prolific than the Welshman at the lineout with 25 takes (including steals), as he consistently excelled. Offers great leadership to help out Sam Warburton too.

3 Dan Cole (England): The importance of his return to fitness was amplified due to David Wilson's absence and as always, Cole did not let his country down. Solid at the set-piece and around the park, keeping the Leicester Tiger off the treatment is vital for the rest of 2015.

2 Scott Baldwin (Wales): A real breakout star for Wales who outshone the other hookers in the competition. Guihelm Guirado had his moments along with Leonardo Ghiraldini, but Baldwin's outings against Ireland and France sealed the deal as he consigned Richard Hibbard to the bench.

1 Jack McGrath (Ireland): Firstly a mention for France loosehead Eddy Ben Arous whose stock rose considerably this Six Nations. Joe Marler also impressed for England but we had to go for Ireland and Leinster prop Jack McGrath after his strong efforts in the early rounds. Joe Schmidt is fortunate to have four quality props at his disposal, which could decide key games in the upcoming World Cup.

Team of Round 5: 15 Liam Williams, 14 George North, 13 Jared Payne, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Noa Nakaitaci, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Sean O'Brien, 6 Sam Warburton, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Courtney Lawes, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Guihelm Guirado, Vincent Debaty

I tend to agree more with this one.
.
.

.

[JB1973]

Hogg made some clangers in defence ,bought that dummy vs wales and not to mention him dropping the ball over the line (great tackle by heaslip) but he should have had that ball protected.

No way he outperformed halfpenny in my eyes, as for Huget he should be dropped just for that brain dead tap penalty in injury time vs England

These things are all subjective though , cases could be made for lots of players , webb was very good for Wales ,scored 3 trys and set up a few more, Parisse provided moments of class for Italy, Billy V made some big yards for England,POM tackled everything that moved for Ireland etc etc

[simonokeeffe]

RTEs

Brown, Watson, Jospeh, Henshaw, Nowell, Sexton, Youngs, McGrath, Guirado, Ross, POC, AWJ, POM, Warburton, Parisse

POM is interesting as no 6s had good tournaments, so do you be position specific or unit specific? Vunipola had a great tournament, Roberts and Henshaw probably best 2 centres etc

Liam Williams and probably Halfpenny definitely deserving of a back 3 spot

Sexton missed one game and was pants in another so dont see how he trumps Ford

[Donny B.]

The exciting but flaky Ford over Sexton is an odd one but Youngs over Webb or Murray is just plain nuts. He had one good game against a French team who had given up tackling!

He showed against Ireland yet again that he's useless when not behind a dominant pack.

Firstly, if your forward eight are milled in an international it is highly unlikely your outhalf will turn the tide. sometimes he will reduce the damage but if your pack are milled you will not win.

When you say flaky Ford I assume you mean the 21 year old's game v Ireland where his pack was minced. I assume you don't mean the away match in Cardiff where despite his tender age and it being his first start in the 6 Nations he led his team to victory. Forward exchanges on the day were even at best and certainly Ford was not behind a dominant pack. Contrast that to Johnny's decidedly "flaky" performance behind a completely dominant pack at the same venue.

Surely Ford's statistics of 2 tries, 8 assists, 278 metres carried, 8 clean breaks, 15 defenders beaten, 9 offloads, and 36/8 tackles/ missed tackles compares more than favourably to
Sexton's 0 tries, 1 assist, 89 metres carried, 0 clean breaks, 1 defender beaten, 1 offload, and 23/6 tackles/missed tackles.

Sexton's placekicking percentage was better 22/26 v 25/33.

Check out Johnny's stats from last season and even allowing for a change in style there is some drop off.
4 tries, 0 assists, 222 metres carried, 5 clean breaks, 7 defenders beaten and 2 offloads. 40/3 tackles/missed tackles.

I know statistics can sometimes disguise the truth but I don't think too many would have Sexton over Ford in a team of the tournament. Johnny had a poor day in Wales (behind a dominant pack). Johnny had the edge on Ford, especially physically ,in the English game although Ford behind a dominated pack still had a decent game.

Anyway, I've put up a team, and you have put up your objections. Well done.

Ireland were the "dominant pack" in Wales? What game were you watching? They were better in the lineout and most crucially at the breakdown.

You're working hard to construct an argument but delving into fantasy doesn't help.

[All Blacks nil]

Ireland were the "dominant pack" in Wales? What game were you watching? They were better in the lineout and most crucially at the breakdown.

You're working hard to construct an argument but delving into fantasy doesn't help.

I was watching a game where Ireland had over 65% possession, made Wales make 250 tackles. Setpiece misfired a few times but the Irish owned the ball as indicated by the massive discrepancy in possession and tackling stats.
I was watching a game the Irish scrumhalves passed the ball 157 times as opposed to 66 passes by their Welsh counterparts, a game in which Ireland won 170 of their 175 rucks. i.e the breakdown

Unless it was the backs won and retained that ball I'd say the pack were dominant.

[Donny B.]

Ireland were the "dominant pack" in Wales? What game were you watching? They were better in the lineout and most crucially at the breakdown.

You're working hard to construct an argument but delving into fantasy doesn't help.

Eh....that's what I said!

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Don't forget that Sexton didn't play in Italy. So that's one game he missed and then the Wales game which he played poorly in, plus I don't think he actually finished any of the games. Ford was brilliant in every game really. I know he made a couple of mistakes against us but in general he was good in that game. I'd pick him ahead of Sexton.

With that said, it's all totally irrelevant.

[Donny B.]

Don't forget that Sexton didn't play in Italy. So that's one game he missed and then the Wales game which he played poorly in, plus I don't think he actually finished any of the games. Ford was brilliant in every game really. I know he made a couple of mistakes against us but in general he was good in that game. I'd pick him ahead of Sexton.

With that said, it's all totally irrelevant.

A bit of an over-statement there. He missed quite a few important kicks and even though he finished well against Wales, he looked quite uncertain at times in that too. I think he's a fine player but I can also see him costing England some games with his place-kicking and defence.

In the head-to-head Sexton was the man, completely dominated him. Sexton was also superb against France (after three months out don't forget) and also very good against Scotland (dodgy hamstring and all). He had a bad day against Wales, as did the whole team, but there's no way Ireland would have won this tournament without Sexton.

[All Blacks nil]

Ireland were the "dominant pack" in Wales? What game were you watching? They were better in the lineout and most crucially at the breakdown.

You're working hard to construct an argument but delving into fantasy doesn't help.

I was watching a game where Ireland had over 65% possession, made Wales make 250 tackles. Setpiece misfired a few times but the Irish owned the ball as indicated by the massive discrepancy in possession and tackling stats.
I was watching a game the Irish scrumhalves passed the ball 157 times as opposed to 66 passes by their Welsh counterparts, a game in which Ireland won 170 of their 175 rucks. i.e the breakdown

A game where Johnny Sexton played the ball 60 times.
Unless it was the backs won and retained that ball I'd say the pack were dominant.

Donny B and Johng

What game were you watching?

[Donny B.]

Ireland were the "dominant pack" in Wales? What game were you watching? They were better in the lineout and most crucially at the breakdown.

You're working hard to construct an argument but delving into fantasy doesn't help.

I was watching a game where Ireland had over 65% possession, made Wales make 250 tackles. Setpiece misfired a few times but the Irish owned the ball as indicated by the massive discrepancy in possession and tackling stats.
I was watching a game the Irish scrumhalves passed the ball 157 times as opposed to 66 passes by their Welsh counterparts, a game in which Ireland won 170 of their 175 rucks. i.e the breakdown

Unless it was the backs won and retained that ball I'd say the pack were dominant.

Dominance isn't just about possession, it's about what you do with it. Unless a pack is breaking through with strong carries and strong mauls, they're really just taking the ball through the phases. The reason the Wales forwards were able to make so many tackles is because they barely had to run for any of them. Ireland just ran into them time and time again around the ruck. And if you're really claiming Ireland dominated the breakdown then why was Irish ball so slow?

[johng]

Johng

What game were you watching?

Hey! I haven't posted on this thread.

Team of the tournament and fantasy league stuff doesn't interest me much. (Not saying there's owt wrong with it, just not my thing)

[JB1973]

Biggar was better than both

[Donny B.]

Biggar was better than both

Would actually make an argument for him ahead of Ford. Think he really came into himself as an International ten in the tournament.

[JB1973]

All jokes aisde, biggar ford and sexton all did very well, so did murray webb and youngs . A case can be made for any of them to have a place, if we get into this much of a debate over a "dream team xv" god help us once the next lions squad is due to be selected!

It's only 2 years out folks

[offshorerules]

Yep serious credit to Biggar. Really stepped up this year.

[simonokeeffe]

All jokes aisde, biggar ford and sexton all did very well, so did murray webb and youngs . A case can be made for any of them to have a place, if we get into this much of a debate over a "dream team xv" god help us once the next lions squad is due to be selected!

It's only 2 years out folks

Gatland with Schmidt as assistant?