Readers’ Six Nations Team of the Championship: England and France dominate as Wales are snubbed
Planet Rugby Readers' Six Nations Team of the Championship.
A first championship title since 2022, a tournament record 30 tries and, now, five players voted into the Planet Rugby Readers’ Team of the Championship. It has been quite the Six Nations for Fabien Galthie’s France.
Victory over Scotland in the final match on the final day confirmed their triumph but it was the Round Four demolition of holders Ireland, with 34 unanswered points in as many minutes after half-time, that marked this Les Bleus team out as something special.
You, our readers, agreed, though you also recognised the resurgence of England under Maro Itoje by selecting five of Steve Borthwick’s side. Your XV is completed by two Scots, two Irish and one Italian.
With over 27,000 votes tallied up, here is your Team of the Championship.
Readers’ Team of the Six Nations Championship
15 Blair Kinghorn (Scotland): He plays for the best club side in the world and the confidence from that was there for all to see in this Six Nations despite Scotland again falling short of expectation. More carries, more metres gained, more offloads and more line breaks than anyone. The Toulouse ace sees space and opportunity where others see obstacles and traffic. It earned him 57% of your vote, ahead of Thomas Ramos (32%), no mean feat given how well he fared, Hugo Keenan (9%) and Marcus Smith (2%).
14 Tommy Freeman (England): Made history by becoming the first England player to score a try in all five games of a single Six Nations campaign and his seemingly telepathic understanding with club-mate Fin Smith was a feature of the Red Rose resurgence, particularly in the win over France. He even got to show his versatility, starting the rout of Wales at centre, where his future surely lies. The Northampton man captured 36% of the vote, ahead of Ange Capuozzo (23%), Darcy Graham (21%) and Damian Penaud (20%).
13 Huw Jones (Scotland): Put himself firmly into British and Irish Lions Test contention with another forceful campaign for Scotland, sparked by a hat-trick of tries in 66 minutes in the opening day defeat of Italy. Jones is an unfussy player, something of a smiling assassin, the glue which holds Scotland’s multi-talented backline together. He must be good because he polled well ahead of the outstanding Juan Ignacio Brex (58% to 26%), with Pierre-Louis Barassi (9%) and Robbie Henshaw (7%) further back.
12 Tommaso Menoncello (Italy): Player of the tournament a year ago and shortlisted again after another barnstorming campaign, Benetton centre Menoncello took 41 per cent of your vote for his hard-running, eye for the half-chance and tough-as-teak midfield partnership with club mate Brex. Yoram Moefana was best of the rest, his two-try performance against Scotland earning France the title and him a 34% poll ahead of Ireland’s Bundee Aki (18%) and Scotland’s Tom Jordan (8%).
Louis Biellie-Biarrey dominates
11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey (France): The flying Frenchman equalled the tournament try record with eight and from his two on opening night against Wales to the one that broke Scotland’s spirit, sealing France the title in the final contest, the 21-year old was THE class act. No player had scored this many for 100 years and his second in Les Bleus’ dethroning of Ireland will remain long in the memory. Pure gas! You awarded him a colossal 82% of the vote, ahead of James Lowe (9%), Duhan van der Merwe (8%) and Monty Ioane (2%).
10 Fin Smith (England): He had not started a Test at fly-half until six weeks ago yet Smith is now pushing Finn Russell for the Lions’ starting berth at 10 after four superb outings for a resurgent England. The Northampton star’s assured hand on the tiller, allied to his destructive tackling, was key to the Red Rose revival and gained him 50% of your vote. Russell (24%) and Romain Ntamack (21%) had brilliant moments but the former’s goal-kicking against England and the latter’s red card against Wales proved costly. Sam Prendergast (6%) was best of the rest.
9 Antoine Dupont (France): Of the many ways to measure genius a 64 per cent share of the vote despite playing only three and a half rounds due to rupturing an ACL is not the one Dupont would choose, but it underscored once again how influential the Toulouse general is in everything does. Jamison Gibson-Park was excellent and surely there is a Lions Test jersey with his name on it, Ben White was also impressive, particularly against England. But Dupont, with seven try assists, remains the gold standard to which Gibson-Park (26%), White (7%) and Martin Page-Relo (3%) all aspire.
The Pack
8 Gregory Alldritt (France): At the start of the tournament the chat was all about Caelan Doris, a probable title three-peat for Ireland and the likelihood the Leinster number eight would get the Lions captaincy. The latter could yet happen, but the odds have lengthened. That is partly down to the job Itoje did rebooting England, but also to what France did to Ireland and the influence Alldritt brought to bear on that. The La Rochelle man ended the campaign as trophy-winning captain and is rewarded with 53% of your vote, ahead of Doris (24%), number eight-cum-centre Ben Earl (17%) and Taulupe Faletau (6%).
7 Francois Cros (France): More so than perhaps any other category, you could make a strong case for each of our shortlisted players. Ben Curry (30%) was a revelation, a key cog in a fast-improving England team, Jac Morgan (25%) continues to impress despite his Wales team being unable to buy a win and Scotland co-captain Rory Darge (8%) was king of the cleanouts. But Cros (37%) edges the vote, rewarded for never straying below an 8-out-of-10 performance. Other stars might sparkle more brightly for France, but few are more consistently influential.
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6 Tom Curry (England): When you have an identical twin also playing lights-out rugby for the same team the danger is you lose some votes to mistaken identity. Tom still easily garnered enough to top this blindside category, a machine of a player excelling on his comeback from a hip problem so chronic he was first advised to retire, then had to learn to run again. As shows of character go that really takes some beating. You thought so too, giving the Sale man 38% of the vote ahead of Paul Boudehent (29%), Jamie Ritchie (25%) and Seb Negri (8%).
5 Tadhg Beirne (Ireland): Perhaps not as eye-catching as Mickael Guillard in a debut campaign which saw the young Frenchman shortlisted for the tournament’s Rising Star award (won by Prendergast), but Beirne did what he always does, delivering consistently big performances. It is that dependability which continues to make him such a fan favourite, capturing 42% in this poll, ahead of Emmanuel Meafou (24%), Guillard (18%) and Ollie Chessum (16%).
4 Maro Itoje (England): Of all the controversial utterances by Eddie Jones, and there have been many, few rivalled his contention that Itoje is not captaincy material. We suspected it at the time, we know it for sure now having seen the Saracens lock transform England since being given the armband out of the blue at the start of the championship. If anything it also improved his personal performance. You thought so, awarding him 59% in this poll ahead of Thibaud Flament (33%), Dafydd Jenkins (4%) and Grant Gilchrist (4%). The Lions captaincy beckons.
Front-row
3 Will Stuart (England): When he returned from the last World Cup Stuart cursed a missed opportunity. He had been in the box seat yet lost out at the business end of the tournament to Dan Cole. He resolved to put it right. Helping Bath to the Premiership final last season was a start, but this Six Nations he has gone to another level as England’s scrum bared its teeth after a long period below par. Stuart has rightly been spoken of in Lions terms and received 45% of your vote, ahead of Zander Fagerson (24%), Uini Atonio (21%) and Finley Bealham (11%).
2 Dan Sheehan (Ireland): There is a stat going round that since his debut in 2022 Sheehan has scored more Six Nations tries (13) than any other player. More than James Lowe and Bielle-Biarrey, more than Penaud and Van der Merwe. All the more remarkable is that he missed a good chunk of that with an ACL rupture. Sheehan managed five in this campaign and his hat-trick against Italy was only the second by a forward. You rewarded him with 71% of your vote, ahead of Peato Mauvaka (20%), Jamie George (5%) and Dave Cherry (4%).
1 Jean-Baptiste Gros (France): By his own admission the Frenchman goes under the radar. He describes himself as “discreet and reserved”. For a long time he played second fiddle to Cyril Baille, yet this was his breakthrough campaign. How good was he? Well, you voted him into Planet Rugby’s team of the tournament (36%) ahead of Ellis Genge (24%) and Andrew Porter (23%), who really were excellent for England and Ireland respectively. Danilo Fischetti (16%) was not half bad either.
