Six Nations Player of The Tournament

by **Notch** Sun 22 Mar 2015, 1:03 am

First topic message reminder :

Who should it be?

by Standulstermen Sun 22 Mar 2015, 10:21 pm

O'Connell followed by AWJ for me

by ME-109 Sun 22 Mar 2015, 11:05 pm

I would give a special mention to Dusatoir....because he looks like a beacon of rugby intelligence/loneliness in the French team. He currently looks completely perplexed with everything going on around him and still plays as good as ever....class is permanent.

by SecretFly Sun 22 Mar 2015, 11:10 pm

....but didn't he tell the boys to play on at the death yesterday?

I might be wrong because as I've already admitted, I was face down on the floor at the time, but I think I heard someone somewhere point him out as the culprit?

If it was, a moment of weakness from the great old goer. But the French played a blasted great game for us. As someone put up somewhere, it must be payback for Thierry Henry. We'll take it - but it was late coming!

by ME-109 Sun 22 Mar 2015, 11:24 pm

Apparently it was Nigel not knowing if time was up and told the players he didnt know which is why they ran the penalty at the end..

by The Saint Sun 22 Mar 2015, 11:39 pm

Probably Paul O'Connell. I don't think he was greater than AWJ or Charteris, but he'll likely shade them two in everyone else's mind for being the Irish captain. There were quite a few candidates from Ireland, England and Wales IMO but after yesterday O'Connell is probably the most deserving.

Who was last year's winner btw? Sexton?

by GunsGerms Sun 22 Mar 2015, 11:43 pm

Brown won last year I think

by quinsforever Sun 22 Mar 2015, 11:48 pm

brown did win last year.

no individual standouts this year. POC would be a worthy winner. AWJ too. everyone else is a step below these two for me.

for england, ford and nowell were really good i thought

by SecretFly Sun 22 Mar 2015, 11:53 pm

I think Halfpenny (up until his clash) was doing pretty damn good too. Small in rugby terms but leaping so very high to so confidently catch balls.... then as usual, so trustworthy with his kicks.

He gave a lot of confidence to Wales in those early games, confidence enough for them to grow confidence if you know what I mean. He chugs out the points and the Welsh grow and grow as he does so.

He'd certainly be in the mix for me as notable mentions

by The Saint Sun 22 Mar 2015, 11:54 pm

Joseph as well surely? Perhaps Robshaw too even if he isn't everyone's cuppa tea.

by The Saint Sun 22 Mar 2015, 11:55 pm

Wales: AWJ, Charteris, Warburton, Halfpenny
England: Joseph, Ford, Nowell, Robshaw
Ireland: O'Connell, Murray, Sexton, Henshaw

I think they were each team's standouts.

by quinsforever Sun 22 Mar 2015, 11:59 pm

yes of course jj!

robshaw, who i have obvious loyalty to, just isnt quite the onfield leader that i think england need.

he has made a few naive decisions wrt kicking for corner vs kicking for points. repeatedly. and i dont think he has the smarts to change the onfield tactics if they arent working. i could be completely wrong on that but thats just my impression.

was reading that McCaw ignored his coaches instructions in the 2011 RWc final and chose to try to contain France on the half way line rather than kick deep to them as instructed by henry. Not sure robshaw has the experience or smarts to do that. maybe he will get there and i am doing him a disservice. hope so.

by **George Carlin** Mon 23 Mar 2015, 6:32 am

Notch wrote:
George Carlin wrote:
Notch wrote:Who should it be?
"Whom".

( )

Shut it Love Actually!

Six Nations Player of The Tournament - Page 2 In-the10

by Sgt_Pooly Mon 23 Mar 2015, 7:50 am

My shortlist:

Ireland: POC, POM
England: Joseph, Ben Youngs
Wales: Warburton, AWJ
France: Dusatoir, Spedding
Italy: Parisse, the 13
Scotland: Hogg, Seymour

I can't see it not coming from the top 3 nations.

by Hood83 Mon 23 Mar 2015, 7:52 am

I'd say POC, seems a top guy too. Closely followed by Joseph and AWJ.

by bedfordwelsh Mon 23 Mar 2015, 10:44 am

Sgt_Pooly wrote:My shortlist:

Ireland: POC, POM
England: Joseph, Ben Youngs
Wales: Warburton, AWJ
France: Dusatoir, Spedding
Italy: Parisse, the 13
Scotland: Hogg, Seymour

I can't see it not coming from the top 3 nations.

I'd agree with that list if I could pick a forward it would be AWJ and the back would be Joseph.

If I had to go for one overall would go for Joseph.

by HammerofThunor Mon 23 Mar 2015, 10:44 am

I hadn't seen this up but the official shortlist is available and open for the vote.

http://www.rbs6nations.com/RBSPlayerOfTheChampionship

Biggar, Dan (WAL)
Ford, George (ENG)
Gray, Jonny (SCO)
Henshaw, Robbie (IRE)
Hogg, Stuart (SCO)
Joseph, Jonathan (ENG)
Murray, Conor (IRE)
O'Connell, Paul (IRE)
Parisse, Sergio (ITA)
Vunipola, Billy (ENG)
Wyn Jones, Alun (WAL)
Youngs, Ben (ENG)

by captain carrantuohil Mon 23 Mar 2015, 10:49 am

Jonny Gray is an immensely promising player but it's taking quite a liberty with the table to include two Scots in this list. If all have won and all shall have prizes, surely there ought to be a Frenchman here as well? God knows which one, but still.

by HammerofThunor Mon 23 Mar 2015, 10:55 am

The names are determined purely on statistical performance (although there is subjectivity in determine what statistics to use). Nothing to do with "If all have won and all shall have prizes".

by captain carrantuohil Mon 23 Mar 2015, 11:00 am

According to the rugby net stats, JG was the third best lock and scored something like the 18th highest number of points (although with Haskell among those who accumulated more, I have to question their worth). Don't quite see the metric by which he is one of the top dozen players of the tournament.

by LordDowlais Mon 23 Mar 2015, 11:18 am

For me from a Wales point of view it has to be Luke Charteris, he has become quite important to us, but as usual Sir Sam Warburton is getting all the praise, otherwise Jonathan Joseph is a good shout as is AWJ.

by **George Carlin** Mon 23 Mar 2015, 11:20 am

HammerofThunor wrote:I hadn't seen this up but the official shortlist is available and open for the vote.

http://www.rbs6nations.com/RBSPlayerOfTheChampionship

Biggar, Dan (WAL)
Ford, George (ENG)
Gray, Jonny (SCO)
Henshaw, Robbie (IRE)
Hogg, Stuart (SCO)
Joseph, Jonathan (ENG)
Murray, Conor (IRE)
O'Connell, Paul (IRE)
Parisse, Sergio (ITA)
Vunipola, Billy (ENG)
Wyn Jones, Alun (WAL)
Youngs, Ben (ENG)

Oh. I thought that you had to have won a MoM to be eligible? Headscratch

Well, apparently not:

Throughout the 2015 RBS 6 Nations each player has been awarded (or deducted) points based on statistical performance across different action categories that cover all aspects of the game. To ensure fairness, the RBS 6 Nations analysts have weighted the importance of different actions depending on different positions. These categories have been collated to give each player an overall performance score. The top scoring players are listed below in alphabetical order

by bedfordwelsh Mon 23 Mar 2015, 11:23 am

LordDowlais wrote:For me from a Wales point of view it has to be Luke Charteris, he has become quite important to us, but as usual Sir Sam Warburton is getting all the praise, otherwise Jonathan Joseph is a good shout as is AWJ.

I think Warburton has been outstanding all tournament along with AWJ, Charteris and Baldwin have really helped settle the lineout. Charteris was brought into to do a job and he's been fantastic at it.

by SecretFly Mon 23 Mar 2015, 11:28 am

George Carlin wrote:
Throughout the 2015 RBS 6 Nations each player has been awarded (or deducted) points based on statistical performance across different action categories that cover all aspects of the game. To ensure fairness, the RBS 6 Nations analysts have weighted the importance of different actions depending on different positions. These categories have been collated to give each player an overall performance score. The top scoring players are listed below in alphabetical order
.

All very MI5 vague and secretive. What's the specifics of the criteria folks? - open government! Je suis Charlie!

I'll bet a few players lost out because they didn't get any 'Photogenic for Slow Mo' points. Ugly players always get a bum deal in these lists. And no counter jokes about Paulie - he's been voted the sexiest Irish player, beating Mr Rolex-watch Cuff-Links Kearney!

by captain carrantuohil Mon 23 Mar 2015, 11:30 am

Extraordinary, really. I know that Parisse is world class and had excellent games against England and Scotland but he did only play four matches and one of those was that dire team performance against France, in which he was as anonymous and ineffectual as the rest of his side. Must really have caught the judges' eye in the other contests.

by **rodders** Mon 23 Mar 2015, 11:30 am

I think the 3 captains of the top 3 sides have all stood out. Warburton and Robshaw have been forces of nature for their sides but definitely O'Connell has been colossal and the difference for Ireland. Take him out and we'd be 3rd or lower, he's that important.

by **George Carlin** Mon 23 Mar 2015, 11:34 am

Looking at that selection, I would be astonished if it's not O'Connell, although I suppose that the fashionable vote would point towards Ford.

by Comfort Mon 23 Mar 2015, 11:36 am

I'd say any of the following:

POC
Murray
Henshaw

AWJ
Charteris
Warburton

Robshaw
Ford
Joseph

by RuggerRadge2611 Mon 23 Mar 2015, 11:43 am

Am I the only one who thinks Robshaw was excellent in every game?

Robshaw or POC for me.

by Comfort Mon 23 Mar 2015, 11:53 am

Ruggers, I think the 3 captains (POC/Warburton/Robshaw) were all exceptional and lead by example in every game!

by **LondonTiger** Mon 23 Mar 2015, 12:27 pm

For me Ford was Englands stand out player. Sure he made some mistakes and was at his least influential against ireland - but if we concentrate on what he actually did he was fantastic.

The headlines:

Two tries
Seven assists.
278m gained ball in hand (with none of the cheap metres that Back 3 often get)
15 defenders beaten

Goal kicking was ok 76% and if we exclude the 4 misses that were outside his range rises to 88%.
Tackling was far from the liability predicted. He never shirked tyhe challenge. Did bounce off a couple of big forwards, but always slowed them down and had 36 tackles with an 82% completion record.

by SecretFly Mon 23 Mar 2015, 12:33 pm

The little problem for England and Ford is that they've shown their cards.

The amount of work that is now going to be done on Ford - and England's more tails-up version of rugby - is going to be detailed and clinical. Way down in the SH, they've been given oceans of video material. And England I feel might not have played things coy enough.

by Sgt_Pooly Mon 23 Mar 2015, 12:44 pm

He needed the experience thought sf and more to be tested. Getting a good run has shown us some weaknesses that he has a 4 month or so to work on.

by **LondonTiger** Mon 23 Mar 2015, 12:44 pm

That is why he did not utilise his kicking game to the same extent as his running and passing game.

Australia will now be in a quandary. In the autumn Ford kicked them out of the game, now he is running and passing.

Very Happy

by SecretFly Mon 23 Mar 2015, 12:47 pm

LondonTiger wrote:That is why he did not utilise his kicking game to the same extent as his running and passing game.

Australia will now be in a quandary. In the autumn Ford kicked them out of the game, now he is running and passing.

yeah, that's the degree of bamboozle you need to keep the SH guessing. Last year Ireland had most tries, this year they have fewest!

by BamBam Mon 23 Mar 2015, 12:51 pm

Scotland are really going to blindside all of us in the autumn then, as they've shown us bloody nothing

Run

by **LondonTiger** Mon 23 Mar 2015, 1:11 pm

Cotter is obviously playing the sucker punch. He allowed the team to show they had attacking intent - but were hamstrung by shocking defence and ponderous service from Laidlaw.

Come the RWC SHC will play and be electric, while the defence will switch to Glasgow's parsimonious state.

Scotland to make the RWC final, for sure.

by SecretFly Mon 23 Mar 2015, 1:19 pm

Leave the poor Scots be, yis buzzard blighters!

When you really do look at it seriously though, how the hell could the Scottish or Italians really compete year in, year out with only two club sides apiece.

They're doing good enough shifts actually with the resources they have.

by **LondonTiger** Mon 23 Mar 2015, 1:24 pm

On the back of Glasgows performances I think we all expected more from Scotland.

However with just two pro sides they will struggle to have the playing resources needed. Shame as they have some really talented players.

by dummy_half Mon 23 Mar 2015, 1:38 pm

I think POC has to win - his performance in leading the team and stifling England in Dublin was the foundation to their championship. It was the one game where I felt our injury absences made a big difference, as we didn't have the power or nous to deal with the Irish tight forwards.

It has though come to a funny pass when England's best candidates for this award are backs who have torn holes in defences for 4 matches (even if sometimes the finishing touches have been absent on occasion). Whatever happened to our 'up the jumper' 10 man rugby? Dean Richards will be turning in the grave he is not yet in at the way we have tried to run nearly everything...

by Jhamer25 Mon 23 Mar 2015, 1:58 pm

It has to be Either O'Connell or Alyn Wyn.
I'd go for Alyn Wyn

by HammerofThunor Mon 23 Mar 2015, 2:02 pm

George Carlin wrote:Oh. I thought that you had to have won a MoM to be eligible?

Well, apparently not:

Me too, I was the one who said that earlier. I'm pretty sure that WAS how they did the shortlist but perhaps not.

by wolfball Mon 23 Mar 2015, 2:15 pm

Warburton impressed me most in this 6 Nations, though POC was more influential. Also POC, carried effectively for the first time in maybe 10 years?? It's been an amazing swansong for him, and he is a worthy winner.

by Comfort Mon 23 Mar 2015, 2:23 pm

Thinking back about it, I'd go for O'Connell for sure, Ford had a supreme first 6nations (and I really mean SUPREME!) and Robshaw/Warburton were both captain fantastic throughout, but considering the final outcome and his age-defying performances, OConnell shoul be a shoe-in.

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