6 Nations 2016 - Team of the Week - Round 2

In what was a relatively underwhelming week in terms of the quality of rugby that was played, we have endeavored to pick our best team. The Southern Hemisphere boys may well be shaking their heads in disgust at what they saw at the weekend, and rightly so, but we've selected a group of players that didn't destroy all hope for Nothern Hemisphere rugby, although the first two players we will mention played in one of the worst games to have graced television...





Front Row: Jack McGrath, Guilhem Guirado & Samson Lee

Yes, Jack McGrath and Guilhem Guirado earn their spots after a very difficult to watch match. However, whilst everyone else was making mistakes and crumbling, Jack McGrath put in another very solid performance and looks set to be on of the best props in rugby if he keeps up this consistency and high-level of performance. Guirado and Lee make the team for similar reasons to McGrath, they're really growing into their roles, Guirado as captain and Lee as a first team player, and they gave good accounts of themselves at the weekend, with Lee solid in the scrum as usual. In terms of the statistics, McGrath shone with his 15 tackles and the turnover he earned although he did concede 4 penalties. Guirado carried and tackled well, whilst being reliable at the lineout. Lee didn't offer much on the stat sheet, but appears to have secured himself that starting spot.

Second Row: Luke Charteris & George Kruis

Charteris put in a mighty shift to earn Wales a victory over Scotland, outshining team-mate Alun Wyn-Jones along the way, but all second-row performances this weekend were eclipsed by the man with a potato for an ear, George Kruis. George Kruis won 4 turnovers for England at the weekend, along with 13 tackles, and he really asserted himself in defence, as well as being very solid in the lineout, claiming all 5 of the lineouts Hartley threw to him. He really appears to have asserted himself as the first choice lock for Eddie Jones, and with performances like this its not hard to see why.



Back Row: Maro Itoje, John Hardie & Taulupe Faletau

Maro Itoje is a bold claim I hear you say, and you're probably right, but he was the best number 6 at the weekend, pipping Lauret and Robshaw for the title. Now you may think we're being biased having called for him to start for England for some time now, and again, you're probably right, but allow us to convince you that in his 15 minutes or so he outdid every other 6 in the tournament. In his time on the pitch he made more metres than Chris Robshaw, Sam Warburton, Justin Tipuric and James Haskell combined with an impressive offload to boot. As far as carrying 6s go, he was one of the best even with his short amount of game time. But he had so much more to his game than that at the weekend. In defence he made 4 tackles, which was a lot considering how much of the ball England had, and they got so much ball largely because of his work in the tackle, where he earned 2 turnovers for his side. He also proved to be an additional option at the lineout, which is always handy. In 15 minutes he outperformed all other 6s, and he needs to start against Ireland and come against CJ Stander, who was one of few flankers to make more metres than Itoje, but that probably came through his 19 carries where he only made 14 metres. Convinced? Maybe not, but let's move on.

John Hardie earned his spot at 7, and although the stats suggest he had a torrid game, 5 turnovers conceded, only 7 metres gained and 1 missed tackle to only 6 made, when watching the game he and Barclay seemed to be the forces that drove the Scots to a lead at half-time and although he wasn't great he was the best openside on show at the weekend. Faletau manages to squeak into this team ahead of Billy Vunipola, carrying well as usual but mainly impressing with his tackling, he is yet to miss one so far this tournament has made 33 tackles, with 14 coming this weekend. He did everything right for Wales and set the platform for the backs to go out and finish the Scots off.

Half-Backs: Ben Youngs & Owen Farrell

Man of the match Youngs gets the nod ahead of fellow team-mate Danny Care, with both performing very well against the Italians, and Care's grubber for Joseph was sublime. Ben Youngs wins the selection for his good carrying and sharpness, and he set a good early tempo which Care then ramped up against a tired Italian outfit. Now, again, controversy. Owen Farrell was the best fly-half to play at the weekend. He once again outshine Ford on his inside and will relish the opportunity to play in his true position when he is afforded the opportunity. He kicked very well and dotted down for a try, scoring 17 points for England. He showed physicality that Ford can only dream of, he notched up almost twice as many tackles as Ford, whilst the man currently holding his shirt got knocked back a few times and seemed frightened of contact at one stage. England played well against Italy but could have done even better with Faz playing at 10 with Devoto at 12. 

Centres: Jamie Roberts & Michele Campagnaro

Jamie Roberts was quite possibly the player of the weekend, making the hard yards and beating defenders, whilst also scoring a try for Wales. He tackled very well and unlike Ford seemed to live for the contact, winning a turnover for his side as well. The impact this man had was brutal, as we saw for the try, but he also showed some lovely delicate touches to earn a hard-fought victory for Wales. At 13 we've gone for possibly the best player on the pitch on Sunday. Yes, we know, JJ scored 3 tries, what more could he do? We're not denying the skill of running support lines, or the vision of an intercept pass, but the way we see it is that had Daly or Campagnaro been in that team they would have both scored three tries too. The third try was a brilliant finish no doubt, but Campagnaro in an Italian team that mustered only 9 points managed to make the same amount of metres as Jonathan Joseph from fewer carries, whilst also having a huge impact in defence, securing two turnovers and vital possession for his side. There is no denying that JJ had a great game, but Campagnaro was more impressive, he outshone every Italian player, including Parisse, and in our books was the best 13 of the weekend.



Back 3: Tommy Seymour, George North and Maxime Medard

These 3 guys had great weekends offensively, and have kept out the likes of Anthony Watson and Mike Brown from this side. Starting with Seymour, he clearly carried very well for Scotland, and got a good try to go with that thanks to Russell, and he looked dangerous every time he touched the ball. He almost helped drag Scotland to a famous victory at the Millenium Principality Stadium, but was stopped by the next man in our team, George North. George has had problems at international level lately, so it was brilliant to see him carry 99 metres against Scotland from just 8 carries, beating 8 defenders as well, half of which came from his great try that secured the win for Wales. This is the form of the player we knew as "the next Jonah Lomu", and hopefully he can continue to strike fear into the hearts of his upcoming opponents. Finally we have Maxime Medard rounding off this team of the week, he carried brilliantly and skipped past defenders all day, and managed to get the oh so crucial try that helped his side to a massive victory against Ireland. He did miss half of his tackles (1/2) and manage to concede a penalty which the Irish thrive off, but in attack he did enough to claim the 15 shirt this week.



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