Six Nations Team of the Week: France dominate after Irish demolition as ‘electric’ speedster features with ‘majestic’ Wales veteran
Following another thrilling round of Six Nations action, we pick our Team of the Week.
After another thrilling round of Six Nations action that saw France overturn Ireland, England showing some real form in attack and a thrilling match of two parts at Murrayfield that saw Wales mount a strong rearguard action in the second half, it’s time for Planet Rugby’s Team of the Week.
Six Nations Team of the Week
15 Blair Kinghorn (Scotland): A wonderful display of leggie artistry from the British and Irish Lions full-back elect sees him take the shirt off brilliant Italian Ange Capuozzo and Ireland’s Hugo Keenan, a standout in a dismal display, and England’s electric replacement Marcus Smith. Blair Murray and Thomas Ramos also had their moments in a good week for full-backs.
14 Damian Penuad (France): Another electric display, but he gave his own team a few shocks in defence too! But the Bordeaux flyer ran riot at times and he sneaks in ahead of England’s Tommy Freeman, who impressed at Twickenham.
13 Oscar Jegou (France): Yes, after much editorial debate we did it! The young flank did so much to aid the French win that we’ll slide him in there and to hell with the social media comments! Grubbers, hammer tackles, tries; he did the lot and he deserves his place. England’s Elliot Daly rolled back the years in a fabulous display when he moved to 13, whilst Huw Jones once again impressed for Scotland and Nacho Brex featured in a lot the Azzurri did well at Twickenham.
12 Tom Jordan (Scotland): Quite brilliant in grabbing a brace for the Scots in an all-action display by the young centre cum fly-half. Yoram Moefana was rock solid in France’s excellent showing, whilst Fraser Dingwall justified his start for England with a glue-like performance in the inside centre shirt.
11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey (France): A blistering display from one of the hottest properties in world rugby as he scored for the seventh successive Test and his record equalling seventh of this Six Nations. He’s our player of the week, but Duhan van der Merwe, Monty Ioane and Ollie Sleightholme all had their moments for Scotland, Italy and France.
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French half-backs
10 Romain Ntamack (France): A really tough call as Fin Smith and Finn Russell both did well for England and Scotland. Smith got England on the front foot for 91m with the ball in hand, whilst Russell looked a much better version of himself than at Twickenham two weeks ago, but Ntamack took huge responsibility when Antoine Dupont went off and did it with style as France demolished Ireland.
9 Maxime Lucu (France): The king is dead, long live the king! Best of all Lucu tried to be nothing more than the best version of himself in a wonderful performance under pressure. England’s Alex Mitchell looked rejuvenated at Twickenham, whilst a word for Ben White, as he delivered another solid performance for the Scots.
Majestic veteran in the back-five
8 Taulupe Faletau (Wales):?Just majestic. The old warrior has added so much to Wales this season and sentimentality sees us take him just over France’s Greg Alldritt and Ireland’s Caelan Doris – a man who never gave up in the face of the French offensive in Dublin.
7 Paul Boudehent (France): To fill the shoes of the great Charles Ollivon is one thing, but to match his try-scoring exploits is another altogether and the La Rochelle man is doing both. Ben Earl shone for England as he carried his heart out, hitting almost 85m post contact and is our runner-up.
6 Jac Morgan (Wales): This guy is fast becoming the miniature Sergio Parisse in terms of performances in defeat. His duel with our runner-up, Jamie Ritchie, was outstanding to watch. At Twickenham, Tom Curry gave another quality display whilst France’s Francois Cros will be fuming at his yellow card that threw shade on yet another perpetual motion performance.
5 Ollie Chessum (England): A man of the match display from the recalled lock sees him take the honours from France’s behemoth Emmanuel Meafou, who defined impact. Scotland’s Grant Gilchrist was their workhorse in contact all afternoon at Murrayfield as he delivered another classy outing.
4 Thibaud Flament (France): A massive 80-minute shift of lineout and aerial excellence characterised the big lock’s day. Maro Itoje was also superb in his shift for England but given the difference in opposition we simply have to go for the Toulouse lock, a world-class exponent of his art.
Front-row
3 Zander Fagerson (Scotland): Back to his best and not before time. Fagerson really put his issues at Twickenham behind him in an all-action display. England got the best out of the three shirt as both Will Stuart and Joe Heyes did well in limited scrummaging opportunities.
2 Jamie George (England): With no real standout performance from a hooker this weekend, we’ll go with Jinx on account of his 100th cap and lovely offload for the Sleightholme try. Dewi Lake was very much part of Wales’ second-half fightback, whilst both Julien Marchand and Peato Mauvaka made sure that France got maximum value from the number two shirt.
1 Jean-Baptiste Gros (France): A massive performance both in the tight and with the ball in hand as the Toulon man made 12 thundering carries. A real statement performance from the loosehead, although England’s Ellis Genge and Fin Baxter both contributed well to their country’s win.
