Team of the Week: Six Nations, Round One

Adam Kyriacou

With the dust having settled on Round One of the Six Nations, we take a look back over the recent games to select our Team of the Week.

Our opening side includes five Welshmen, four French and Irish players and two English so without further ado, here is the XV in full. Make sure to leave your opinion and own line-up in our comments section.

Team of the Week: Six Nations, Round One

15 Leigh Halfpenny (Wales): A tough one first up as Jordan Larmour finished with 138 metres from his 19 carries while Anthony Bouthier also performed well on debut for France. But Halfpenny put in one of his best performances in a long time at full-back for Wales. Safe under the high ball whilst also offering plenty in attack, he racked up over 100 metres on a great day at the office.

14 Jonny May (England): One of very few players in white to come away from the game in Paris with his head held high as May’s second-half masterclass pulled his team-mates back into the contest. His first try showed real quality and skill as he chipped over before regathering, while the second was a display of serious speed and evasiveness as France had no answer to the English finisher’s brilliance.

13 Nick Tompkins (Wales): Yes, he was only a replacement and also came on at inside centre but his debut performance was that good on Saturday. Tompkins caused Italy endless problems with ball in hand and his call-up is already looking like a masterstroke from new Wales head coach Wayne Pivac. Tompkins finished with a superb solo try, 57 metres and also beat six defenders at the Principality Stadium.

12 Gael Fickou (France): France defence coach Shaun Edwards was quick to pick out Fickou after the game as his defensive work proved crucial in their win. The experienced 25-year-old is a senior player in Les Bleus’ backline and made an incredible 18 tackles at the Stade de France, with his team outstanding without the ball for long spells of the game. He gets in ahead of Scotland’s Sam Johnson.

11 Josh Adams (Wales): You might think topping 2019 would be nigh on impossible for Adams but the Wales winger kicked off the new year with a hat-trick against Italy. The finisher extraordinaire once again displayed his lethal knack of scoring tries as he takes the early lead in that individual Six Nations chart. France’s Vincent Rattez deserves a mention as he stepped in well for Damian Penaud.

10 Jonathan Sexton (Ireland): Another impressive performance in the red shirt came from Dan Biggar, who controlled the game brilliantly from 10. However, Sexton was instrumental in Ireland’s narrow win over Scotland and therefore gets the nod. He scored all 19 points for his team via a try, conversion and four penalties, leading by example as captain as Andy Farrell’s tenure is off and running.

9 Antoine Dupont (France): French teams love to centre their game off the nine and in Dupont they have the perfect fulcrum to build an exciting and successful side. He wiped the floor with opposite number Ben Youngs on Sunday as both he and Romain Ntamack were excellent. Dupont has the complete game and is a joy to watch as he beats Tomos Williams to our nine jersey, who was busy for Wales.

8 CJ Stander (Ireland): Moved from the blindside early on, after Caelan Doris withdrew from the action in Dublin, Stander was outstanding for Ireland on Saturday. He got through a mountain of work as he silenced his critics with a typically Stander-like performance. France back-row Gregory Alldritt is unlucky to miss out but with 14 carries and 18 tackles, the Munster number eight gets the shirt.

7 Justin Tipuric (Wales): Does he ever have a bad game? Tipuric is such a talented player with and without the ball and he put in another brilliant performance as a link man between forwards and backs. Defensively though was where he most impressed as Italy couldn’t gain any sort of momentum, due largely to the Welsh tacklers and Tipuric’s work on the ground. The Ospreys flanker finished with 17 hits.

6 Charles Ollivon (France): A captain’s performance from the French back-row as he crossed twice against England to begin his tenure in perfect style. Made a match high 68 metres with ball in hand with 15 tackles to boot as he led by example at the Stade de France.

5 James Ryan (Ireland): 17 tackles and 14 carries demonstrates the work Ryan got through in their 19-12 Six Nations win over Scotland. Up against the equally tireless Jonny Gray, Ryan put in a workmanlike shift alongside Iain Henderson and deserves his spot here.

4 Bernard Le Roux (France): Defensively he was top drawer on Sunday as England could find no way through the lock’s sizeable frame. Edwards said afterwards that games are won up front by the tight five and that’s exactly what happened in Paris, with Le Roux’s 22 tackles eye-watering to say the least. Alongside Paul Willemse, this pairing did the hard yards for Les Bleus and it didn’t go unnoticed.

3 Tadhg Furlong (Ireland): After a disappointing 2019 by his own high standards, the giant Irish tighthead was a formidable presence against Scotland as he performed well at scrum time but also got through plenty of work elsewhere with 10 carries and 13 tackles.

2 Ken Owens (Wales): Such an underrated player in the international arena, in our eyes Owens is right up there amongst the leading hookers in world rugby. Combative in the tight, quick and solid in the set-piece, he was a ball of energy yet again for the Welsh, who boast so many genuine leaders through the spine of their side.

1 Ellis Genge (England): The impact Genge made off the bench for England is such that he gets in ahead of Scotland’s Rory Sutherland as our loosehead prop this week. England’s scrum improved late on and he also gave his team an injection of pace in both attack and defence. It will now be interesting to see what Eddie Jones does as Mako Vunipola was rested against France due to the short turnaround.