Now let’s have a look at the highlights of this year’s tournament and the other Six Nations that ran concurrently with the men’s event.
Player of the Tournament
Jonnathan Joseph lit up the tournament in a similar fashion to Wesley Fofana when he made his Six Nations debut a few years ago and scooped the player of the tournament. They’ve similar players with an eye for space, great anticipation coupled with the pace and footwork to make the most of every opportunity.
Jonathan Joseph – brought the magic
He’s been tearing it up for Bath both in the Premiership and in the European Cup but he only got his chance due to the abcence of Manu Tuilagi through injury. You can read more about why we picked him and our team of the tournament in Lee Grant’s excellent article here.
Try of the Tournament
For me this has to be Wales’ length of the field effort against Italy in the final round. Italy were pressing the Welsh line but when they dropped the ball at a five-metre lineout the Welsh pounced. They spread the ball quickly into Jonathan Davies who split the Italian defence before offloading to Gareth Davies on halfway. The scrumhalf then made it to the Italian 22 and sent Scott Williams over for the try. It was magnificent to watch and a timely reminder that attacking space can be more effective than trying to run over the opposition.
Scott Williams – finished off a length of the field team try for Wales
Game of the Tournament
Up until Super Saturday it was very slim pickings in this category with only the Wales v Ireland game standing out above what was a pretty poor standard in the first four rounds. But like buses you wait for a decent high quality game for ages and then three come along together.
Any of the three games played on the final day would have been a worthy winner of this one. However the England-France game just had it all. Final game of the day, England coming so close to the Irish tally, 12 tries and the will they won’t they tension produced by both team trading tries for fun. The rugby was excellent and the improtance of the result just served to heighten that.
If you haven’t seen this one go watch a replay right after you finish reading this article
Refereeing
The men in the middle come in for their fair share of stick but this year I feel they’ve been pretty good. There’s been a subtle shift in how they’ve refereed scrums but it’s made a huge difference. In previous years any collapsed scrum would have been immediately reset while any disintegration would have seen a penalty awarded.
This year though the referees have given teams every chance to get the ball out and keep the game flowing. I don’t think what we saw in the final round would have been possible without this change.
Nigel Owens – still got it
Nigel Owens stepped in as a replacement for the newly retired Steve Walsh and took charge of the England v France game. He delivered a master class in how to referee to the spirit of the laws but not become so wrapped up in them as to stifle the ability of teams to play fast paced flowing rugby.
As is the case with important games that attract a wider audience he still copped some flak from those used to blaming football referees when their team’s loses. But for me he did an excellent job and enabled that amazing game to happen.
The Other Six Nations
While we were focused on the men’s tournament two other Six Nations titles were fought over with just as much gusto. Ireland’s Women had a points chase of their own in their final game on Sunday needing a 27 point margin over Scotland to pip France to the title. Their finish wasn’t quite as tense as they romped to a 73-3 scoreline crossing the whitewash eleven times in the proccess.
Their win created a little bit of history as it was the first time Ireland have won both the men’s and women’s titles in the same year. World Champions England finished down in fourth place.
Niamh Brigg and her team mates clinches the Women’s Six Nations
There was better news for England in the U-20s competition where the future looks bright. England clinched the title with a 24-11 victory in their final game against France.
Charlie Ewels – at least one England captain collected some silverware
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