Who are the oppositions best players??

I’m interested to hear who you respect the most in the teams you face this Six Nations?

I support Wales

England - George Ford, a cool calm operator high skill set can get a team a win.

France - Antoine Dupont, a fierce competitor hugely skillfull and very quick. A danger from anywhere.

Ireland - Jordan Larmour, he can carve up defences, constant attacking threat.

Italy - Michelangelo Biondelli, this young flyhalf looks really exciting

Scotland - Darcy Graham, injures for the first round but can’t wait to see him with a bit of space.

Players I respect

England - George, Farrell
France - Vahamina,
Italy - Carlo Canna,
Wales - Tipuric, Webb
Scotland - Hogg, Russell

I'm English and the ones I respect the most are probably as follows:

Wales: Dan Biggar ALWAYS raises his game against us. I dislike his constant arguing with the referee but I guess that's part of his "game face" - he's fired up and wants to challenge everyone and everything. He always seems to give that extra 25% against us. Frustrating as hell!

Ireland: Cian Healy. An absolute scrummaging machine and brilliant in the loose when he's on form. Continues to play like he's still 22.

Italy: Jake Polledri. Simply an outstanding back row player. I think he'd walk into most International teams' back rows. He's exciting to watch and a real livewire.

Scotland: Finn Russell (although he may not come back this season). Almost single-handedly orchestrated the second half comeback against England last year. Wonderfully unpredictable and very difficult to play against when he's on song. Shame we might not get to see it this year.

France: Dupont is an excellent shout, but my choice has to be Damian Penaud. I really think that he's something special. He was France's one shining light in their match against England last year, scoring their try and generally being a pain in the rear. I think he'll get his chance to shine in this tournament.

France - their pack. Just seem to be able to throw England off their flow and make it difficult.

Wales - Tipuric. An outstanding player. Menance at the breakdown and in open play, would not look out of place as an international centre

Ireland. Stander, POM, VDF. In fact, most Irish backrow players.

Italy - hmmmmmmmmm. Their fullback?

Scotland - Hamish Watson and Kinghorn. He plays like Harry Mallinder should

Pot Hale wrote:Players I respect

France - Vahamina,

The second row sent off against Wales in RWC and now retired from the international game?

For me:

France - Camille Chat, Damian Penaud
Ireland - James Ryan, Gary Ringrose
Italy - Jake Polledri, Matteo Minnozi
Scotland - Hamish Watson, Stuart Hogg
Wales - Taulupe Faletau, Dan Biggar

There are some players who seem to go well against certain opposition, whiel not being so widely regarded by other sides. For instance, Australian supporters think Ben Youngs is a pest, but no-one else is too worried about facing him.

Dan Biggar has rarely played badly against England, even when he was sometimes regraded as a limited player. It's tough to think of a stand-out Irishman, as most of the team perform well when they beat us. Perhaps someone like Rob Kearney, who often made an impact when some of his own supporters wanted a different full back. It feels a bit strange not to name a forward from Wales or Ireland, since England losses are usually when we have been outmuscled at the breakdown, and scrums. Hogg and Russell are two great Scottish threats but I always fear a talismanic forward like Hamish Watson, as that's the kind of player to swing his team's momentum.

LondonTiger wrote:

Pot Hale wrote:Players I respect

France - Vahamina,

The second row sent off against Wales in RWC and now retired from the international game?

For me:

France - Camille Chat, Damian Penaud
Ireland - James Ryan, Gary Ringrose
Italy - Jake Polledri, Matteo Minnozi
Scotland - Hamish Watson, Stuart Hogg
Wales - Taulupe Faletau, Dan Biggar

Maybe Vakatawa?

These french names can sound quite similar sometimes

France Slimani from an ability point of view but given hes now well entrenched with cheating over replacements I'd probably have to go with vakatawa.
Wales I'd go with Tipruric as just a supreme class act who played second fiddle for so long and just got on with it without a murmur. Tomkins will be there shortly.
Ireland is Murray. God I wish he was english.
Italy is polledri. I wish he was just a touch more English.
Scotland. Hogg by a distance. Probably the best full back in the world now the aussie has gone.

Ireland - James Ryan - Best possible partner for Itoje - think he's the blend of Lawes / Kruis we could do with!
Scotland - Stuart Hogg - Arguably the best FB in the world, would solve our issues there
Wales - Nick Tompkins - top class centre
France - Damien Penaud - Brilliant both at centre and wing, just a wriggly little pest who seems impossible to put down
Italy - Jake Polledri - huge carrier, will take over the Parisse mantle for Italy

England - Itoje, Farrell, Ford, May, Sinkler. Sinkler looked very dangerous in the loose at the RWC so I’m pretty wary. I’m also wary of Curry and Underhill, I think they’ll be dangerous all 6N. Farrell is just a classy operator alongside Ford and May with space always makes me nervous.

France - Pernaud, Ntmack, Dupont, Willemse, Aldritt. The French 9/10 pairing looks very dangerous now and Pernaud is arguably the best winger in Europe now. Willemse is pure raw power and strength and Aldritt adds a dynamic but powerful edge to the French pack.

Ireland - POM, Healy, Toner, Stockdale, Earles. POM is like a kid in sweet shop when he plays us, he gets on players nerves and makes a real nuisance of himself at the breakdown and in the loose. Stockdale and Earles particularly are like wasps in attack and defence, difficult to beat. 

Italy - Minozzi, Polledri, Budd, Morisi, Alan. Budd is a handy player in the pack and abrasive, Minozzi in form is incredible and Morisi at 12 is line breaking machine who can cause a lot of damage. Alan always dangerous if given time and space.

Wales - Halfpenny, JD2 (shame he’s injured), Tiperic, Davies, AWJ, Adams, Navidi. I think of Wales as collectively one of the best sides, but individually halfpenny seems to always find a way to damage Scotland and JD2 and AWJ in defence seem to always be at the right place at the right time. Navidi didn’t impress me much when I first saw him playing at Blues but he’s really come on and seems a very dangerous player now, arguably more so than Tiperic another excellent player.

maestegmafia wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:

Pot Hale wrote:Players I respect

France - Vahamina,

The second row sent off against Wales in RWC and now retired from the international game?

For me:

France - Camille Chat, Damian Penaud
Ireland - James Ryan, Gary Ringrose
Italy - Jake Polledri, Matteo Minnozi
Scotland - Hamish Watson, Stuart Hogg
Wales - Taulupe Faletau, Dan Biggar

Maybe Vakatawa?

These french names can sound quite similar sometimes

That's the one. I get my words beginning with Va mixed up a lot.

For me, Hamish Watson always seems to take control of the game. He's physical and has that great knack for a 7 of seemingly being everywhere, all of the time.

Jonathan Joseph at his best too, he went through a stage where defences were standing off him as his feet were so damn quick! Vakatawa has the same ability, with the option of great offloads too.

Cian Healy and Tadhg Furlong in tandem, can take your scrum to the cleaners, and then break through midfield on a centre's line the next minute.

For me:

Wales- JD, Liam Williams annoys the hell out of me, Faletau, Ken Owens 
Scotland- Hamish Watson, Hogg, Gray 
Ireland- Furlong, Ryan, Ringrose
France- Chat, Penaud, and I used to hate seeing Lauret's name on the team sheet 
Italy- like most others, Polledri

Wales - Liam Williams, he's such a smart footballer but I hate his try scoring celebration (becaus he does it so often against Scotland!!)
Ireland - Sexton, proper good 10
England - Farrell, he's England's best player without a shadow of a doubt whether its at 10 or 12 he's world calss
France - Danny Priso, sharpest beard in world rugby, it's so angular.
Italy - Minnozi, electric feet

All of the above (excepting Priso) irritate the hell out of me when they are playing against Scotland. I tend to hate them for unimportant things like Farrells wierd eyes when he kicks, Sexton moaning at the referee or Williams' try celebration. This is probably because I can't criticise their actual talent so I mask it with superficial complaints.

Okay, looks like fun:

Scotland - Finn Russell. Just a superbly talented, heads-up rugby player. Great for world rugby that Scotland have the balls to play him and his style of rugby, rather than a more prescribed gameplan (compare to Cipriani...).

Wales - Gareth Davies. Electric pace, not afraid to use it to attack around the fringes and pick off passes. Again, more of a heads-up player, less inclined to indulge in box-kick tedium. Rhys Webb's pretty good too - can we have one?

Ireland - Ringrose. Just oozes class, the heir to BOD's thirteen shirt. Deceptively quick, great hands, and guile to go with it. Right place, right time. Probably the Lions OC in a tightly contested position.

France - Vakatawa. He's going to take some stopping by the England midfield this weekend. Imperious for Racing, but possibly with more quality and experience around him there than in the French side?

Italy - Polledri. Had to pick a forward or my playing bias would have become all too apparent. In the not too recent past would have been a mainstay of the England backrow, perhaps. Aggressive carrier, breakdown terrier. Quality.