Team of the Six Nations - Planet Rugby

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Planet Rugby have put forward their team of the Six Nations.

15 Rob Kearney (Ireland) - Strong efforts from Leigh Halfpenny, Stuart Hogg and Ben Foden were all outdone by Kearney, who was solid under the high ball and also threw in fine running from the back to prove he has returned to his best form. That defeat to England offered few chances to show what he is capable of but we had already seen enough.

14 Alex Cuthbert (Wales) - It was tough to leave out the championship's top try-scorer, Tommy Bowe, but how could we overlook Cuthbert? Only taking up the game at sixteen years of age and made his RaboDirect PRO12 debut for Cardiff Blues back in September 2011, Cuthbert has taken to Test rugby like a duck to water and deserved Saturday's try.

13 Jonathan Davies (Wales) - The 23-year-old is set for a long future in the Welsh jersey and will soon push hard for a British and Irish Lions starting spot. He scored two tries against Ireland in round one and his carrying ability was consistently backed up by solid defence, highlighted by his winning of a relieving penalty on his own line against France.

12 Wesley Fofana (France) - Why the stand-out inside centre was uprooted from number twelve and shifted to wing for the final weekend had us all scratching our heads. But like Kearney, his gold star was earned earlier on as he scored four in four games and was a classy runner for les Bleus. A mention for bustling duo Brad Barritt and Jamie Roberts.

11 George North (Wales) - His bounce-off of Ireland's Fergus McFadden will be a lasting memory of Six Nations 2012. He and Cuthbert were workhorses coming off their wings.

10 Owen Farrell (England) - Started out at centre but injury to early-championship try-scorer Charlie Hodgson meant Farrell was thrust into the ten shirt. That is where his future lies with England as he demonstrated poise and solidity throughout. He pips Rhys Priestland.

9 Mike Phillips (Wales) - Our toughest selection due to so few scrum-halves putting their hand up. While he sometimes attempts to take on the opposition all by himself, Phillips is one of only a small percentage of nines capable of mixing it physically with back-rows. Solid.

8 Sergio Parisse (Italy) - From difficulty finding an option, we come to a jersey that had three names pushing hard to occupy. David Denton announced himself to the rugby world this Six Nations while Ben Morgan has been a real coup for England since choosing white over red before the 2012 championship. However, one man who continuously goes above and beyond what is expected of him is Parisse. His statistics in each game this year were excellent as he carried, tackled, took line-outs and won turnovers for his fifth-placed side.

7 Chris Robshaw (England) - It was hard to leave out Ross Rennie, who was great for Scotland during the opening rounds, while Sam Warburton and Justin Tipuric were also good when on the field. Robshaw though gets in for his work rate and how he has led a new-look team. Thierry Dusautoir was also as robust as ever in jersey six (openside).

6 Dan Lydiate (Wales) - The masses have spoken. Lydiate was voted by our readers as the top player in the Six Nations. Case closed. Mention for Tom Croft after that effort in Paris.

5 Ian Evans (Wales) - Evans was the surprise package for the Grand Slam champions as he stepped up well in place of Luke Charteris. The Osprey played every minute of the Six Nations and put in enough hard yards to see off Geoff Parling and Yohann Maestri.

4 Richie Gray (Scotland) - Superb. Gray was Andy Robinson's best player. Lions starter.

3 Adam Jones (Wales) - We had a call for Nicolas Mas and were also torn over whether Dan Cole had done enough to oust a certain Welshman. But Jones is in and looks back in top physical condition, joining Gethin Jenkins and Ryan Jones in having won three Slams.

2 Rory Best (Ireland) - Two tries for Ireland's most-capped hooker, who enjoyed a solid season that saw him become captain after injuries to Brian O'Driscoll and Paul O'Connell.

1 Gethin Jenkins (Wales) - What a workhorse Jenkins is. He was injured for the first game but upon his return showed just how much he offers. Toulon have signed something special as his efforts have proved he is now the number one number one in Europe.

8 Welsh
2 English
2 Irish
1 French
1 Italian
1 Scottish

Thoughts? I would have Dan Cole at 3 and Jamie Roberts at 12 but other than that its pretty good.

slartibartfast wrote:

Sgt_Pooly wrote:

Morgannwg wrote:I'm not involved in your dispute FHF, however you have brought to my attention sgt_pooly's ridiculous and incorrect comments on Jonathan Davies and Alex Cuthbert. What was I saying? Oh yeah, ridiculous!

Opinions......JD is a decent centre. Cuthbert a promising winger but certainly not deserving to be in a 6N team over Bowe.

Why would you pick bowe over cuthbert?

Tries & performances. Bowe has looked back to his best this 6N, I haven't seem anything to suggest Cuthbert deserves to be ahead of Bowe.

Sgt_Pooly wrote:

slartibartfast wrote:

Sgt_Pooly wrote:

Morgannwg wrote:I'm not involved in your dispute FHF, however you have brought to my attention sgt_pooly's ridiculous and incorrect comments on Jonathan Davies and Alex Cuthbert. What was I saying? Oh yeah, ridiculous!

Opinions......JD is a decent centre. Cuthbert a promising winger but certainly not deserving to be in a 6N team over Bowe.

Why would you pick bowe over cuthbert?

Tries & performances. Bowe has looked back to his best this 6N, I haven't seem anything to suggest Cuthbert deserves to be ahead of Bowe.

Hmmm.... I think cuthbert got praise for his work around the park and being a bit more of a complete player. Hence the vote in planet rugby. I think bowe struggled defensively this year.

I think bowe is a world class player - but the thread is regarding this 6n, cuthbert performed consistently and scored a fabulous try to win the grandslam .

slartibartfast wrote:
Hmmm.... I think cuthbert got praise for his work around the park and being a bit more of a complete player. Hence the vote in planet rugby. I think bowe struggled defensively this year.

I think bowe is a world class player - but the thread is regarding this 6n, cuthbert performed consistently and scored a fabulous try to win the grandslam .

Wales play an in-your-face attacking game (easier to look dashing in a team designed to be so)
- Ireland contain, score with a touch of opportunism if they can and then retreat to contain again. Every Irish player has to defend for longer periods than Welsh players tend to (orders from on high) - so on average more mistakes in defense because of it.

But if Bowe can score as freely as he did with no real attacking platform then I think it highlights his potency without one and what he might do in a side with one.

slartibartfast wrote:

Sgt_Pooly wrote:

slartibartfast wrote:

Sgt_Pooly wrote:

Morgannwg wrote:I'm not involved in your dispute FHF, however you have brought to my attention sgt_pooly's ridiculous and incorrect comments on Jonathan Davies and Alex Cuthbert. What was I saying? Oh yeah, ridiculous!

Opinions......JD is a decent centre. Cuthbert a promising winger but certainly not deserving to be in a 6N team over Bowe.

Why would you pick bowe over cuthbert?

Tries & performances. Bowe has looked back to his best this 6N, I haven't seem anything to suggest Cuthbert deserves to be ahead of Bowe.

Hmmm.... I think cuthbert got praise for his work around the park and being a bit more of a complete player. Hence the vote in planet rugby. I think bowe struggled defensively this year.

I think bowe is a world class player - but the thread is regarding this 6n, cuthbert performed consistently and scored a fabulous try to win the grandslam .

Not taking into account Bowe being a world class player, he performed to a higher level throughout the 6N. I struggle to see a case for Cuthbert personally, he's a decent winger but to state his all round game is better than Bowe's is absurd imo.

If you think Cuthbert had a better 6N fair enough but for me Bowe was exceptional in an stuttering Ireland side.

If I were selecting a side purely on what they did in the 6 nations Id have the English lad. If I were selecting a Lions side Id take Bowe, hes the better player over his career.
I dont think Cuthbert being in a team of the tournament is massively controversial.

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:If I were selecting a side purely on what they did in the 6 nations Id have the English lad Cuthbert. If I were selecting a Lions side Id take Bowe, hes the better player over his career.
I dont think Cuthbert being in a team of the tournament is massively controversial.

+1

also, I mentioned it before, but the fact that not a single mention of Shane Williams was really made this 6 nations shows how well Cuthbert slotted in.

Both are fine players though, and Bowe did look deadly when the opportunity arose. I wouldnt complain about either being on the wing in a team of the tournament.

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:

ChequeredJersey wrote:

thebluesmancometh wrote:ye a little HERSH. Preistland really needs to up his game if he is to keep his spot, Robshaw in my view has already lost his back to Wood.

I don't think Preistland is the best 10 in Wales, but I think he's the best 10 option for Wales.

Robshaw is necessary in this team as it stands- at the moment he is making all of the tackles for the back row so that Croft can do his running around in the loose and use his pace to get to rucks before the opposition. Why they don't just give Croft the 7 shirt and Robshaw the 6 I do not know. Robshaw is doing, admittedly probably less well, a Lydiate job with his defence, but everybody was up in arms about how undervalued Lydiate is whilst ignoring the fact that Robshaw has 50% of his back row's, including bench, tackles and has missed only 1.

Match- Robshaw-England tackle counts - Robshaw- England missed tackles
Ireland - 11- 64- 0 - 7
France- 13- 97 1- 13
Wales- 9- 116 0 - 18
Italy- 16- 106 0- 8
Scotland- 15- 164 0- 14

Fair comment on Robshaws tackle count, but Croft took on more and more as the tournmanet progressed. He certainly seemd to be the one there doing the traditional 7 ball poaching job in the last two games.
Add in Crofts lineout contribution, as well as his contirubtions in attack, and overall I feel he contributed at leats as much as Robshaw by the end. I wouldnt have either in side of the torunament though, Croft because he starte dbadly, Robshaw because he faded as it went on.

I dont agree with Chequred Bluesman that Robshaw has lost his spot at all. Wood will have to eran his back, Lancaster is strict on that ( assuming he continues). Lancaster isnt going to ditch the capatin of a winning side that seems happy for a guy that hasnt been involved.

I agree, Croft has contributed at least as much as Robshaw and I feel that right now they are building a partnership which is a good thing, I just think that Robshaw almost fits the Lydiate role to a tee, and Croft is playing a pretty decent game as a 7. I'd prefer to have them switched so that Croft can use his pace even more with a bit of a head start off of scrums, and that if we accept Lydiate's vital role in the welsh back-row machine, Robshaw deserves some credit for doing a similar job in allowing Croft and Morgan to export their more dynamic qulaities

With regard to my earlier post, I didn't say any player should be included ahead of Bowe. I'd go for Cuthbert over North actually. Both were great but I think cuffbutt edges it. He had an outstanding tournament as did JD and both should be included in any 6 Nations XV. Bowe with either of those two on the wing though, that would be a good backline. Lions anyone?

Morgannwg wrote:With regard to my earlier post, I didn't say any player should be included ahead of Bowe. I'd go for Cuthbert over North actually. Both were great but I think cuffbutt edges it. He had an outstanding tournament as did JD and both should be included in any 6 Nations XV. Bowe with either of those two on the wing though, that would be a good backline. Lions anyone?

Ireland's game against England seems to have tarnished their post rationale. Shame really because Ireland were playing some very good rugby up until the second half in Twickenham.

Bowe is a worthy inclusion, he had a good tournament. Cuthbert looks promising though, and probably created more panic in opposition, though dcored less tries.

Morgannwg wrote:With regard to my earlier post, I didn't say any player should be included ahead of Bowe. I'd go for Cuthbert over North actually. Both were great but I think cuffbutt edges it. He had an outstanding tournament as did JD and both should be included in any 6 Nations XV. Bowe with either of those two on the wing though, that would be a good backline. Lions anyone?

Ireland's game against England seems to have tarnished their post rationale. Shame really because Ireland were playing some very good rugby up until the second half in Twickenham.

Bowe is a worthy inclusion, he had a good tournament. Cuthbert looks promising though, and probably created more panic in opposition, though dcored less tries.