Name 3 Players who are going to shine

From your National side, which 3 players do you expect to emerge from the 6 Nations wit their reputation enhanced? For my pick I've resisted the temptation to choose uncapped players (though I would think some will do very well), or those who are pretty much a given to shine. I must admit that I found it hard to name only 3, so I must be more confident about England than I'd realised (though I still think Wales will win the 6 Nations, just).

Chris Robshaw: I expect him to play out of his skin this tournament and be more aggressive in carrying. He will have a point to prove, who knows it may even bring out his mean side

Hartley: I think he will relish the opportunity and will be desperate to prove the nay-sayers wrong. I'm not convinced that he will stand out as a player due to lack of game time, but do expect him to lead from the front and give it his all as captain. In truth I expect Jamie George to match or even outshine him as a player, but if Hartley puts a bit more fire in England's belly the he deserves to be picked.

Jack Nowell: As long as he can come in off his wing I expect him to be a real problem for defences. He's a very industrious player, not as fast as some wings but he makes up for this with his intelligent play.

A good bit of positivity. I'm with you on getting it down to 3 players. I'm going with Robshaw, Itoje and Clifford. Robshaw will I suspect play the majority of minutes, play really well as normal but not have the not a natural 7 thing hanging over his head.

Itoje will get a chance to shine against the Italians perform well and push himself to the bench before impressing towards the end of the tournament.

Similar for Clifford but a week ealier. Come the Ireland game he could well be in the team to stay.

Jonny Gray - we know how good he is but do the rest of you? Best lock in the NH IMO and I think a few folk outside scotland will have to agree

Mark Bennett - just a scintillating runner

John Hardie - he will top the turnover stats (and probably the penaltys a well)

I think that this will indeed be the season that Jack Nowell will come of age in an England shirt. I expect Joe Launchbury to have a stormer of a season and I have a strange feeling that Paul Hill will make a big impact from the bench.

Actually theres quite a few England players who need to really make up for that WC debacle.
And some newbies who could shine

But I think it could be these:
Chris Robshaw - Obvious
Joe Launchbury - Obvious
Owen Farrell - Odd one I know

Owen is playing very well (I accept at a different position) but he is in form, he has shown a lot more creativity and running threat than previous, has a physical presence and is tactically aware and a kicker.

Just feel he could really take hold of games this 6n.

Reserve:
I also genuinely think if he is used right and sticks to the basics...Haskell could shine. So he's my reserve!

Gareth Davies - my kind of scrum half. Little nipper. I want to see him being an annoying little menace like only scrum halves know how

Dan Biggar - he has a lot of confidence at the moment. Hoping he stays injury free and continues his excellent world cup form.

Justin Tipuric - Gats has him starting for once. Will be great to see him getting good game time. Such a good footballer and link man. Could be what we need to give an extra edge to our often limited attack (which is a bit ironic as he is a forward!).

Again avoiding new caps, as they have such a low starting point.

So:

Billy Vunipola - Played every minute of last years championship, named as one of the vice-captains could well do the same again. I really believe we will see Billy rampaging as he did for Wasps and talk of Nathan Hughes will be put on the back burner.

Jack Nowell - pretty much for the reasons others have stated.

And my contentious one:

George Ford - how quickly people forget. Ford had a really good tournament last time round, and the core skills are still there. He is the best tactical kicker in the English game and just understands rugby intuitively. He has the skills to be the best 10 I have seen wear the red rose. His currrent form is not as bad as naysayers would have us believe and in the new England environment he should thrive. Should england do well, Ford will very much be at the centre of things.

Luke Charteris - Doesn't get the recognition he deserves

Jonathan (Foxy) Davies - Class is permanent

George North - Its due and this guy is a game changer - I'm also sensing his frustration which is a good thing. Against Ireland this weekend I seem him coming off his wing as he did on his debut v SA and scoring

CJ Stander - The most in-form backrow player in Ireland and indeed in the Pro12 imo. Also outplayed Parisse in both European games.

Stuart McCloskey - Titan...and hopefully will be given a chance by Schmidt.

Robbie Henshaw - BOD who!?

For Scotland...

John Barclay: He is coming back in from the cold with a lot to prove. His form for the Scarlets has been consistently excellent, displaying more power and carrying ability than during his time with Glasgow. At 29 he is approaching his peak years, and with his all-round footballing skills, he should bring more than just a breakdown presence to the Scotland back row.

Jonny Gray: The man is a colossus; it’s hard to believe he is still only 21. This will be the year where I think he will cement himself fully as the driving force in the Scotland pack. I expect him to add more ball carrying to his already remarkable tackle stats.

Matt Scott: Scott burst onto the scene and has since then been interrupted intermittently by injury, this was evident during the WC where some of his positional alignment and tackling was terrible. This season he has managed to string regular game time together and we are seeing some of the class that he has always had. For a former ten, his main strength is surprisingly running great angles off his stand-off. This year, I expect to see him continue to break the line of 2/3rd phase, but also bring his outside backs into the game more and develop his kicking game to take some of the pressure of Russell.

For Scotland:
Jonny Gray - I read a remarkable statistic this week, that in his whole career for Glasgow and Scotland, he has only missed 17 tackles, out of a total attempted tackle count of 789 - that's a career 98% success rate! He is now developing a devastating running game, and as has been said, a once-in-a-generation player for most countries, let alone Scotland.

Willem Nel - He has almost single-handedly turned Scotland's scrum into a real weapon - watch the number he did on Scott Sio in the World Cup. His carrying in the loose is wonderful, and he has an unbelievable engine. Last season (i.e. before he started getting call-ups for Scotland), he played 93% of all the possible minutes in Edinburgh's season. That's pure insanity.

Tommy Seymour - The wing who can't stop scoring - he dotted down in all four matches he played in during the World Cup. Some say he's fortuitous (all four came from or via some kind of interception or opposition mistake) but it takes a predatory eye to seek out the opportunities for such scores. Very solid under the high ball, particularly on the attack.

I'd agree with my follow Scot Mr Ian Bru:

Jonny Gray - epic workrate, strong ball carrier and decent lineout man. Great contest against Joe Launchbury - I see these to as a potential pairing down in NZ.

Willem Petrus Nel - strong scrummager and lethal try scorer from a metre out. He's been a real find for Edinburgh and combines beautifully with Ross Ford and Ali Dickinson. I don't think we'll boss England at the scrum, but we ought to have a really solid platform there.

Tommy Seymour - for years Scotland have made scoring tries look virtually impossible, even with bags of territory and possession. In fact we've blown opportunities when I was harder not to score. Seymour is a key member of our new backline who has changed all that, in fact he seems to be able to score even when it doesn't look on. Not a particularly robust defender, but a really sharp finisher.


Denton will also shine, but more down to the hair product.

Ford- will tear defences apart ,will finish the six nations as the Lions flyhalf front runner.

Robshaw- has always been the best backrower in the British Isles just got a bad deal from the media,possible Lions captain contender.

Lawes- the guy will make mince meat out of every pack in the tournament nailed on 2017 Lion, the Kiwis shudder at the thought of facing him again.

DirtyRucker7 wrote:Ford- will tear defences apart ,will finish the six nations as the Lions flyhalf front runner.

Robshaw- has always been the best backrower in the British Isles just got a bad deal from the media,possible Lions captain contender.

Lawes- the guy will make mince meat out of every pack in the tournament nailed on 2017 Lion, the Kiwis shudder at the thought of facing him again.

RubyGuby wrote:

DirtyRucker7 wrote:Ford- will tear defences apart ,will finish the six nations as the Lions flyhalf front runner.

Robshaw- has always been the best backrower in the British Isles just got a bad deal from the media,possible Lions captain contender.

Lawes- the guy will make mince meat out of every pack in the tournament nailed on 2017 Lion, the Kiwis shudder at the thought of facing him again.

Lets just say that I wouldn't take those views as representative of the majority of England supporters on these forums. In fact I doubt that said poster is actually an England supporter at all, and is probably as close to representing an incorporeal supporter as I have seen for a while

LIW - sometimes your powers of observation are more acute than Superman's

Chris Ashton?

doctor_grey wrote:Chris Ashton?

Confusing n and t maybe?

Jack McGrath, CJ Stander and Keith Earls.

George North, Dan Biggar, Alun Wyn-Jones

Might as well play it safe. Provided Wales make an effort in the first game they could well do the slam this year. I just hope the Welsh fans don't have to be on the verge of rioting before the boys pull their finger out.

lostinwales wrote:

RubyGuby wrote:

DirtyRucker7 wrote:Ford- will tear defences apart ,will finish the six nations as the Lions flyhalf front runner.

Robshaw- has always been the best backrower in the British Isles just got a bad deal from the media,possible Lions captain contender.

Lawes- the guy will make mince meat out of every pack in the tournament nailed on 2017 Lion, the Kiwis shudder at the thought of facing him again.

Lets just say that I wouldn't take those views as representative of the majority of England supporters on these forums. In fact I doubt that said poster is actually an England supporter at all, and is probably as close to representing an incorporeal supporter as I have seen for a while

Which of the recently banned do you think he is? so few posts, straight in with the unsubtle trolling

TJ wrote:

lostinwales wrote:

RubyGuby wrote:

DirtyRucker7 wrote:Ford- will tear defences apart ,will finish the six nations as the Lions flyhalf front runner.

Robshaw- has always been the best backrower in the British Isles just got a bad deal from the media,possible Lions captain contender.

Lawes- the guy will make mince meat out of every pack in the tournament nailed on 2017 Lion, the Kiwis shudder at the thought of facing him again.

Lets just say that I wouldn't take those views as representative of the majority of England supporters on these forums. In fact I doubt that said poster is actually an England supporter at all, and is probably as close to representing an incorporeal supporter as I have seen for a while

Which of the recently banned do you think he is?  so few posts, straight in with the unsubtle trolling

Does it matter who?

No - but I just twigged the hint above :-)

Time will tell...

To be fair to the poster he's not exactly trying to hide his wumming is he

Guys need to calm it down please, Talking to Dallaglio last week and he was in much agreement with me on Robshaw ,but preferred to see Cipriani inside Burrell. rather than Ford inside Farrell.

DirtyRucker7 wrote:Guys need to calm it down please, Talking to Dallaglio last week and he was in much agreement  with me on Robshaw ,but preferred to see Cipriani inside Burrell. rather than Ford inside Farrell.

Look I know Cips has some (accidental) history here but I'd rather see neither...

For England:

- Dan Cole: hasn't looked near his best for over a year, but I think he will remind us what he's capable of.

- Danny Care: has been waiting for his (second? third?) chance. I expect him to take it.

- Jack Clifford: I'm cruising for a fall with this one, because I've been bigging him up for 2 years. But I think he will be one of England's standout players.

George Ford - He has been playing behind a beaten bath pack for most of the season, with front foot ball he will perform again.

Ben Youngs - Starting behind Care again, I bet he'll be the starting 9 again by the end of the six nations.

Chris Robshaw - Will put in a massive shift in each game, without the added worry of captaining.

From an English perspective, I think Care, Nowell and a very feisty Brown will have a good tournement

lostinwales wrote:

doctor_grey wrote:Chris Ashton?

Confusing n and t maybe?

Biggar
Tipuric
AWJ
Nailed on I think,

On Monday, I think if we mention that Hartley, Care, and Ford had good games, I'm pretty sure England will have played well and won.  

For Hartley, his absence from the RWC clearly illustrated his impact on the team.   Right now, I'm not sure if he is in game shape for an international, plus of course, whether his form is good enough to play in an International or even be in the side.  However, if we are mentioning him in a positive light come Monday that means he played well enough to prove us wrong.  Hard yards, good breakdown work, good set-piece work, and leadership.  That would be very good news for England.  

Another player who doesn't seem to have merited his spot in the team based on current form is Ford.  Unlike Hartley he is not playing himself back into shape, and his body of work this season, in my opinion, has been mediocre so far.  Like Hartley we know what he can do when firing and England really need that edge from the 10 spot.  If, as many people surmise, Ford is impacted by playing behind a middling pack, then England need forward parity at the minimum.  He is capable of unlocking a real attacking threat, and might even get Farrell to and through a hole (miracles, I know).  I would think if Ford and Hartley both have good games, it is likely England will win.

If we add Care to the discussion, and he is clearly in the side based on form (I would have been OK with Youngs as well), that means England's pack is working, the backs are getting quick, accurate ball with which to work, and the backs are moving.  I have no reason to think Care might not play well, but as the link between the forwards and backs, good scrum half play will cement the positives we get from Hartley and Ford.

I hope.

Hard to only consider one nation...

Hardie will be impressive, I think Tom James will too. Mcgrath of IReland should finally become a household name, and Vakatawa is a freak, similarly so is Clifford this season, in a similar way but much different position lol.

Too many I want to pick, from too many nations!!!

Yacoub Camara the Toulouse flanker who's on the bench today is a superb talent. Watch his dancing feet. This lad is huge but he can move.

Mark Bennet looks like one of the most creative attacking centres in the championship. Should see him create and score great tries.

Justin Tipuric has been in great form all season, rarely has a poor game. Can perform at any position on the pitch as well as any player. Has pace, hands, game reading, a kicking game. He is going to make himself undroppable to Gatland

The three players i would like to shine for England is Watson Joseph and Care.

Watson and Joesph booth have good good speed and dancing feet i would like to see plenty of that today.

I do think that on form and fully fit. Care is a better scrum half than Young's, and would like to see him prove me right today.

Many Welsh players are already well established but i am optimistic that the new chaps will start to push through and that hopefully adding some desperately needed variety to the attack will allow other who are well established to show more -

Anscombe, isn't going to look brilliant at full back but when he gets in the line his flat passing is excellent and could really launch the strike runners - like Priestland did on a couple of occasions

Rob Evans, huge boots to fill taking over from Jenkins but has the full range of skills needed to do it

Roberts, I think the first name on the team sheet still has an improved passing game up his sleeve(well hidden I admit)