6 Nations Team of the Tournament

First topic message reminder :

15. Halfpenny (Honourable Mention, Hogg/Huget) – Ever reliable under the high ball and kicked well from hand and the spot all tournament. Would have liked to have seen him involved in more attacking phases however...
14. Cuthbert (HM, Venditti) - Is big, strong and has that sevens pace which we saw put to devastating effect against England.
13. Davies – He nicely supplements the Welsh backline and helped the team rack up the most amount of points with his smooth handling and running.
12. Fofana – A rare bright light in an overwhelmingly underwhelming France squad. He was always dangerous with ball in hand and is an elusive runner with deceptive strength. Scored the try of the tournament for me with that superb solo effort vs England (notwithstanding the suspect ‘tackling’)
11. North (HM, Visser) – North is a powerful runner with greater guile than the crash bang centres like Basteraud and Roberts. He made a number of great breaks throughout the tournament and showed what a great finisher he is with that brilliant try at the end against France.
10. Biggar – Biggar stepped up in a big way this championship. He’s been solid in defence, adventurous in attack and showed how good a game manager he can be with confident performances against Italy and England standing out in particular.
9. Phillips – No scrum half was consistently good in my opinion, however I feel Mike Philips offered more than his counterparts. His distribution was generally good and as always he looked to make quick inroads around the ruck area.
8. Parisse/Picamoles – I cannot separate these two exceptional no.8s who I believe were the two best forwards overall of the championship. Parisse was immense, combining flair and tenacity and we saw how much Italy missed him when suspended. Much of the same could be said for Picamoles also who seemed to get over the gain line with every carry and led many positive French counter attacks.
7. Robshaw (HM, Brown) – Although he is not a specialist ‘fetcher’ Robshaw put in a number of high energy, quality performances. He’s a great tackler and consistently slowed opposition ball by being involved in every ruck. Also he is a great captain who leads by example like the (Italian) man just above.
6. Zanni – Much underappreciated and overshadowed by the talismanic Parisse, yet Zanni is every bit as (if not more) effective as a ball carrier and was disruptive at the breakdown.
5. Hamilton – He was effective in the lineout, loves to be involved in mauls and always put in a show of formidable defence.
4. Launchbury – I don’t feel there was a standout lock at no.4, the pre-tournament ‘favourite’ - Richie Gray wasn’t particularly dynamic as in previous years. In Launchbury I saw a young man who always looked assured and will develop into a really special player as he continues to master the finer subtleties of the game.
3. Cole – A technician of the scrum, Cole put in steady performances throughout the championship for England. He got through a lot of work in every match but always displayed great fitness.
2. Hibbard – There was much talk at the start of February about Rory Best being the Lions hooker but the man was flat out terrible for much of this Six Nations. Conversely, Hibbard’s performances have steadily improved and he’s been a strong ball carrying option in addition to a solid thrower at the lineout.
1. Lo Cicero – Yes this is a sentimental pick, and I concede I am not the best judge of the prop forward position however I believe Lo Cicero embodied the resilient Italian spirit and showed age is nothing but a number.

pete (buachaill on eirne) wrote:
Farrell- metronomic with boot and a rock in defence. Line kicking is also very good. He is quite poor at getting the attack going but I thought the quality of 10 this year was appalling.

I didn't realise a 75% penalty kick rate constituted 'metronomic' (at least 80% upwards surely) especially when a fair number of those kicks were from the centre of the field. Conversion rate was worse at 60% although obviously England only scored 5 tries. There seems to be a misconception about Farrell being Wilkinson-class from the tee when this is not the case. He is a good kicker but shouldn't be near the team of the tournament in my opinon on that basis and his solid defence alone.

1. Jenkins
2. Best
3. Jones
4. AW Jones
5. Minto
6. Zanni
7. Robshaw
8. Parisse
9. Phillips
10. Biggar
11. McLean
12. Fofana
13. Tuilagi
14. Cuthbert
15. Halfpenny

I think George C is about right with that team, except I'm not sure about Biggar - he was okay, but I would still see Farrell and Sexton as ahead of him.

Lo Cicero
Hibbard
Adam Jones
Ian Evans
Parling
Zanni
Tiperic
Picamoles
Laidlaw
Biggar
North
Fofana
Canale
Cuthbert
Halfpenny

Honourable mentions to the following who were very close if not neck and neck with certain picks:

Rory Best
Dan Cole
Jim Hamilton
Chris Robshaw
Faletau
Ben Youngs
Owen Farrell

Some funny selections going on, all opinions I guess.

1. Domingo - came in and dominated most, how did he not start?
2. Best - One of few strong Ireland players
3. Jones - Grew into games, outstanding v English
4. Launchbury - Not at his best against Wales but so good, a real find
5. Evans - A real grafter, close with Ryan
6. Zanni - great 6N
7. Robshaw - Englands best player most games
8. Parisse - No others close

9. Youngs - Back to his best for most of 6N
10. Farrell - Stepped up this 6N, definate Lion
11. North - Grew into competition
12. Fofana - Cracking player at centre, if only France played him there more
13. Tuilagi - No real standouts, JD was below par
14. Cuthbert - Another who improved every game
15. Halfpenny - Canale/Hogg run close

5 Welsh
5 English
2 Italians
2 French
1 Irish

I really don't see why everyone is raving about Dan Cole. In my opinion he has struggled at scrum time in most games and on Saturday he was poor against Gethin who is not a great scrummager himself. Adam Jones has been the outstanding tight head in this six nations and should be a certainty for a Lions starting place.

It hasn't helped that our LH's have been very poor

100%beefy wrote:Halfpenny
Cuthbert
Fofana
Roberts
North
Biggar
Philipps
Picamoles
Tipuric
Parisse
Ianto
Coombs
Jones
Hibberd
Jenkins

Parisse at 6???