15. Stuart Hogg (Scotland)
Comfortably Scotland’s most potent attacking threat, you could almost feel most of Twickenham holding its breath whenever Hogg got the ball. He was also used more often in the line than he has been in past, and a couple of his spiralling punts almost defied belief with their length.
14. Leigh Halfpenny (Wales)
There wasn’t a standout right winger this weekend, so we’re cheating and moving Halfpenny. It was another superlative performance from Wales’ diminutive fullback, whose excellence under the high ball forced Ireland to abandon their kicking game-plan, which had been so effective up to now. He was also, one mishit conversion aside, typically dead-eye from the tee.
13. Jonathan Davies (Wales)
Was responsible for Wales’ two most obvious attacking moments, a couple of scything line-breaks, and ended as his side’s most potent ball carrier. The first break included a ferocious hand-off on Johnny Sexton that the Irish out-half will not want to see again. Edges out Jonathan Joseph, who scored a great try but was otherwise quiet.
12. Jamie Roberts (Wales)
There was a dearth of top quality performances from inside centres this weekend, which means Jamie Roberts’ physical if a little one dimensional performance for Wales gets him the nod. He was defensively sound, which is the headline, but on more than one occasion he took the ball into contact with overlaps outside him.
11. Jack Nowell (England)
Nowell is starting to look right at home in international rugby. His stats against Scotland speak for themselves – 185 metres made, four clean breaks, eight defenders beaten, three offloads – oh, and a try for good measure.
10. George Ford (England)
Ford is rapidly becoming one of the most exciting fly-halves to watch in the international game. The way he takes the ball to the gain-line is second to none, as is evidenced in his try and two assists. The only black marks were a couple of wobbles from the tee.
9. Ben Youngs (England)
It looks as if Youngs’ best form is returning. Sniped to good effect with a few of his trademark arcing runs around the first fringe defender, and for the most part his box kicking was on the money. Looks to have the England nine shirt sewn up for now.
1. Eddy Ben Arous (France)
France really should have been able to do more with the platform their forwards gave them, and Ben Arous was at the heart of that powerful effort, contorting Dario Chistolini into all sorts of awkward positions in the scrum, forcing a trio of penalties in the process.
2. Scott Baldwin (Wales)
The Welsh line-out was, after one early wobble, flawless, and he was another to put himself about the park as if his life depended on it, finishing with a monstrous 20 tackles despite only being on the pitch for 56 minutes.
3. Aaron Jarvis (Wales)
When Samson Lee went off in the 13th minute there was a collective groan around the Millennium Stadium, probably echoed in most Welsh living rooms/pubs. Jarvis is far from proven at this level, but he stepped up admirably, even forcing a scrum penalty from Jack McGrath.
4. Luke Charteris (Wales)
Pilfered Irish ball at the line-out almost every time he was hoisted into the air, and finished with a staggering number of completed tackles (37 or 31, depending on which stats you look at). A titanic shift from such a huge human being.
5. Courtney Lawes (England)
Superb at the line-out, and a key reason why the Scottish backs weren’t allowed to run more freely with his relentlessly physical tackling. O’Connell is unlucky to miss out as he was even more effective in the loose, but the Irish line-out faltered badly and he calls it. AW Jones also deserves a (big) mention.
6. Thierry Dusautoir (France)
There was very little to be proud of for either side in Rome on Sunday, but Dusautoir was once again a leader by example for France, topping his side’s tackling and carrying stats. At some point, the rest of his side has to raise themselves to his level.
7. Sam Warburton (Wales)
A monumentally inspiring performance on the day he became Wales’ most experienced captain, leading the side out for the 34th time. Hit the 30 tackles mark, smashed into the breakdown and performed the link-man role with aplomb, especially in the early stages.
8. Taulupe Faletau (Wales)
He was often the leader of Wales’ relentless line-speed, and even if he didn’t match the tackle count of a couple of other of the forwards, his appetite for closing down the Irish attackers never wavered. Didn’t do much with ball in hand, but that wasn’t what was called for on the day. Mention to his cousin Billy Vunipola, who put in a huge shift for England.
By Jamie Hosie
Follow Jamie on Twitter: @jhosie43
Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images
18 replies on “Six Nations 2015 Round 4: Team of the Week”
The fact that Roberts gets the nod at 12 (and I can’t say that anyone else should be ahead of him) really does show that its not just England who are struggling with this position.
I definitely think 12 is a problem position for a lot of teams. A top quality 12 is so hard to find because you’re looking for so many jobs in one person. You want someone that can carry and defend like a Jamie Roberts but distribute like Matt Giteau – very difficult to find!
NZ have Nonu, who was formerly Roberts esc. but have developed into a fine distributor with a top class kicking game. That took years of development within the All Blacks set up though. Toomua is probably another that has the all round game, whilst being more of a distributing 12 really.
Outside of that – maybe Fofana on his day? But there aren’t many others in world rugby.
On the team above – largely agree. Really happy with how Youngs and Ford are looking, they’re definitely the 9 and 10 for the foreseeable future in an England shirt.
Hogg – now I’m a massive fan of his. As a fullback, like any position, there tends to be a type. Brown type player with a brilliant running game, Goode type player that can play as a second playmaker, Halfpenny positional and defensive brilliance or Kearney that dominates all high ball situations. Somehow Hogg has come along and can do all of that (possibly defensive positioning isn’t Halfpenny esc yet if we got picky!) He could easily play 10, his kicking game is top notch, with ball in hand he is as dangerous as any! Such a talent.
Probably only Dagg and Ben Smith incorporate all of those skills in the same way he does. Again it seems to be the All Blacks that have more all rounded players in each position; wonder why they’re the best in the world?
0 Irish players, interesting.
Disagree about Ford. His performance against Ireland, against a decent team with a decent back row and a competitive pack of forwards, showed what I consider to be his true level. Shooting fish in a barrel this last weekend and against Italy doesn’t make him the most exciting FH in the tournament,
Jamie Roberts in grudgingly? Well, at least he is appreciated in his own country. Mountain of a player. Butchered less overlaps than Nowell. Match saving tackles. He’s in my team.
Harsh on Ford Brighty. Any fly half will struggle when the forwards go AWOL as they did in Ireland. Whilst you ignore his performances against Australia and dare I say it Wales. Also you disregard the Scottish match. If it so easy to shred their defence why has no one else done so in the last 12 months (excepting the Cardiff match when Hogg was sent off)?
Why discard the Scotland match? As I said on “rate the match” I thought that was a hilariously poor match. U11s rugby. But I’m in the minority on that one I know. Aus was too far back for me to consider and I didn’t think he was that great against Wales. He was better than our sorry shower that night mind and I know you can only beat what’s in front of you, etc. Best team England have played this year? Ireland. That’s the judge, surely?
Well who would you have Brighty? Biggar was ok but nothing special, Sexton had an off day. Lopez then?
I don’t think Roberts is under-appreciated at all; I’m certainly a big fan of his and I know many other rugby friends I have feel the same. This weekend he was very good without being outstanding; I don’t think it’s unfair to say that. I don’t think he made the breaks Nowell made so hardly think that’s a fair comparison. Defensively great this weekend but didn’t offer his carrying best.
Agree with Benjit on Ford. I’ve been quite a doubter of his, but I am starting to become a fan. His goal kicking still bothers me but his all round game has been brilliant. I really dislike criticism of half backs when they have no decent ball to play with – I’ve always been a 9 myself so I know how impossible that can be; pretty unfair to base your opinion of him on that. Even Sexton looked poor when the Welsh back row and defense dominated on Saturday, and he’s the best 10 in the world in my book.
Can’t agree. How he plays against a decent team is exactly the point, and is not unfair, unless England will judge their world cup on how well they play against Uruguay. Howley for Wales behind a pack that retreated for most of a decade. Dominguez for Italy. Jonathan Davies for Wales. There were exciting players that shone whether there was guff around them or not.
Don’t see I’ve been overly harsh – Scotland is not the standard given their form and I have not seen him be amazing and “exciting” in their competitive games i.e. Ireland and Wales this year.
Much like when I say Robshaw isn’t “great” mind I am talking about the standard of being the best in the NH (which is what team of the week effectively is) – so this isn’t me saying Ford is poor, not good at all, rubbish, etc. I just don’t think he is near “rapidly becoming one of the most exciting fly-halves to watch in the international game” because that is a top end compliment.
My thoughts are also tempered by the oft repeated hyping of the next big thing in English rugby – Care, Youngs, Ashton, Vainikolo, Cueto, 12Ts, Farrel, Youngs again a few years later, Cipriani … a long and cautionary list.
I’ve not said let’s judge him on the Scotland performance – but you’ve picked out the Ireland game and ignored the Australia and Wales games. Why is that a fair assessment?
The half backs you picked out would have had plenty of poor games with no decent ball to play with, so to judge him on that one seems bizarre particularly when in context of his other performances.
Also – this team is picked based on his game at the weekend, not his fault he was playing against Scotland – he can only beat that is in front of him
Robshaw I’m mixed on. He is top class in my opinion on, there’s only Warburton on top form that I’d take over him in the NH – so that is still pretty good. He’s also more consistent than Warburton which makes him valuable to the English set up. BUT, he has limitations definitely.
Can’t really comment on our English media hyping anyone and everyone that is good at the age of 20 or anyone that was a big league name and the converts – nothing to do with me. However, Care, Cueto and both Youngs brothers have both had pretty good international careers. Farrell could still prove to be a very good international player (the guy is still only 23). Three of that list are also Lions.
However – agree with the principal. I personally hate the media hype generated by any good young English player, but it seems to happen across all sports and is just something we have to live with.
Our comments overlapped so hopefully explained why I’ve not considered the Scotland and Aus games. I think he’s 10 of the weekend. I don’t think he’s “rapidly becoming one of the most exciting fly-halves to watch in the international game”. That try he scored against Scotland was shockingly inept from them, just shocking.
Robshaw – yep, that’s always been my pt. I got some huge grief for saying he didn’t deserve a Lions spot, with people saying I was implying he was crap. Not getting into the Lions does not make you crap. If I was picking Lions 6/7s now then who out of Tipuric/Warbs/O’Brien/O’Mahony/Lydiate/CubbyBoi/etc. would he be ahead of? None of them (except for Lyds/Davies I’m sure for a lot of people). So – Is Robshaw in the top 5 of the 6/7s in B&I? Yes. Is that good enough to be in the Lions? No.
Aye, I know the fans are not the reason for the hype. My comment was related to the (and I can’t cut and paste it again) “most exciting” statement which I disagree with and it reminded me of other premature over-hypings.
Makes more sense now – and I’d have agreed with you pre-6 nations. I think he’s proved himself to pull the strings really well. Scotland try was a walk on, but irrelevant of his try I thought he controlled the game really well. Australia game was 5 matches ago in England terms and judging by your way of looking at things we can dismiss performances against all others so two matches ago!
I think you’re also down playing his role in the Wales win – but alas, doubt we’ll agree here. As a Welshman I’m sure you’ve told yourself you lost because you didn’t play well on the day, whereas as an English I saw a brilliant performance from us that didn’t allow you do play. I’m sure you’d find the game thing regarding the Wales/Ireland game too…
Robshaw we pretty much agree on, however I would have him over Tipuric. So yeh if I was picking a Lions tour now he’d probably go for me, but he probably wouldn’t get any test match game time. O’Mahoney and Warburton would be my first choice.
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised at such myopia, given the eye patch.
Meow.
My comment about Roberts was a direct response to him being under appreciated by both Blub in his first comment and Jamie’s overall assessment of him.
Brighty, i’m not sure that I under appreciate Jamie Roberts. He is great at what he does.
A fine defensive pillar, and very good at trucking the ball up. I do think he is limited though, and whilst he fits this Welsh game plan very well, I don’t think he played that well outside of these two areas.
If he hadn’t missed the overlaps, i certainly wouldn’t have commented as I did. But he did, hence my comment (which after all did acknowledge that he was the right choice of the three games).
Think the stats for Nowell are misleading – made a lot of ground in open space running it back, and it hides the fact his handling and awareness were poor. A lot to like about him as a player – his energy, willingness to look for work, his slipperiness in the tackle and the ability to find a fraction of space in a crowd – but as a couple of the bombed tries showed, he doesn’t quite have the pace to play on the wing, in my opinion (Chiefs making a shrewd move by moving him into the centres though, where I reckon he could flourish). England would’ve had at least two or three more tries had Wade or dare I say it even Ashton been playing – he’d have been on the shoulder of most of those breaks.
We are a fickle bunch on here aren’t we. Brighty’s piece about media with ” the next big thing” applies to most of us too, not long ago Ashton was right up there with Goode as England’s worst player and now people think he should be back in!!
Just so it’s clear I think he would have had a couple tries too.. Long live Ashton and Goode 🙂
Maybe not Goode lol