Six Nations: PR's Championship XV

Now that the Six Nations dust has settled, Planet Rugby thought it was only right to count up the votes and give you our stars of 2011.

Now that the dust has settled across Europe, Planet Rugby thought it was only right to count up the votes and reveal our Six Nations stars of 2011.

Some were easy decisions to make while others were most certainly not, but after a few death stares across the desk, we have our selection.

There is a nice mixture to it too as winners England boast four names, Scotland three and two apiece for France, Wales, Ireland and Italy.

Before we get into the meat of things though, let us first give a tip of the cap to the standouts of Round Five. It was a strange week in truth with Ireland moving up at least two gears from their earlier showings to overcome England and thus depriving their bitter rivals of a Grand Slam.

Meanwhile, the Azzurri could not back up their success over France with a win at Murrayfield while France proved too hot for Wales in Paris.

XV of Round Five: 15 Lee Byrne (Wales), 14 Tommy Bowe (Ireland), 13 Brian O'Driscoll (Ireland), 12 Sean Lamont (Scotland), 11 Vincent Clerc (France), 10 Jonathan Sexton (Ireland), 9 Morgan Parra (France), 8 Sergio Parisse (Italy), 7 David Wallace (Ireland), 6 Sean O'Brien (Ireland), 5 Lionel Nallet (France), 4 Richie Gray (Scotland), 3 Mike Ross (Ireland), 2 Ross Ford (Scotland), 1 Thomas Domingo (France).

XV of the Championship

15 Ben Foden (England) – The votes tell the story. Andrea Masi did push for a late inclusion but Foden takes our opening slot after being a regular threat alongside Mark Cueto and…

14 Chris Ashton (England) – He finished at the try-scoring summit with six scores and rightly deserves his number fourteen jersey. England hopes his form continues in New Zealand.

13 Brian O'Driscoll (Ireland) – A clear winner in our centre poll as BOD claims the majority of your votes. Three tries with his most recent performance arguably being his strongest.

12 Sean Lamont (Scotland) – Our readers made the call on this one too and we can't argue with their choice. Andy Robinson may stick with the Lamont-Ansbro axis at the World Cup.

11 Max Evans (Scotland) – Glasgow will sorely miss their centre-cum-wing next season but Scotland will continue to enjoy his dynamism. Belying his size, Evans has been immense.

10 Toby Flood (England) – It may be argued that since the Achilles injury he suffered against France, Flood didn't quite get back up to his top form. But overall he was the best pivot.

9 Morgan Parra (France) – We are still not yet convinced about Francois Trinh-Duc as an international playmaker which is what makes Parra's performances that more impressive.

8 Sergio Parisse (Italy) – What can you say about this man? Parisse leads by example and is fully deserving of his place in our XV. Pretty much a mainstay in our earlier selections.

7 Sam Warburton (Wales) – This guy has a massive future for Wales. Athletic yet powerful while having a rugby brain, Warburton should win many more caps for his country.

6 Sean O'Brien (Ireland) – A consistent carrier for the Emerald Isle and still at such a tender age, O'Brien has made our number six jersey his own this campaign. Not one bad game.

5 Tom Palmer (England) – No good can come of moving to play in the Top 14? Palmer has proved that is definitely not the case and was a real foot soldier for Martin Johnson at lock.

4 Richie Gray (Scotland) – How the young lock was not included in the shortlist for player of the championship is a real puzzler. Gray was an outstanding performer from the outset.

3 Martin Castrogiovanni (Italy) – A tough call to leave out the likes of Nicolas Mas and Dan Cole but Castrogiovanni cracks the nod after being a key cog in that victory over France.

2 Matthew Rees (Wales) – It was a voting tie between Scarlets hooker Rees and William Servat but we felt that the former merits the jersey as he was without his starting props.

1 Thomas Domingo (France) – His absence against Italy slipped under the radar somewhat but not here as his impact was sorely missed in Rome. He has been dynamic throughout.

By Adam Kyriacou