1 – Cian Healy (Ireland)
A very dependable player and showed it on Saturday as he dominated proceedings at set-piece and bundled his way over from close range to score the bonus-point try.

2 – Stuart McInally (Scotland)
What a tournament this guy is having, sensational against England on Saturday, making a lot of hard yards and was good at throwing in the lineout too.

3 – Simon Berghan (Scotland)
The prop, under the very capable hands of Richard Cockerill and now the tutorage of Scotland, has continued his meteoric rise and was very good both in loose and tight play, the latter being most impressive being able to hold his own against a much hyped English scrum.

4 – Paul Gabrillagues (France)
While his other second row partner, Vahaamahina, had another dodgy performance, the Stade Français lock put in a robust performance, squeezing his way through for his 1st international try and also put in a few good hits in defence too.

5 – Jonny Gray (Scotland)
Another complete performance from the towering lock who played the full 80, carried with intent, passion and menace and of course made a high number of tackles as always.

6 – John Barclay (Scotland)
A true captain’s innings from the flanker who was at the heart of Scottish menace and disruption at the breakdown, winning key turnovers and was also very solid in defence

7 – Yacouba Camara (France)
The Montpellier openside is continuing his rise in rugby and I think he’s one for the future; he showed his towering and athletic presence against the Italians with some excellent lineout takes and powerful fends in the carry.

8 – Marco Tauleigne (France)
The entire French back-row, despite being a tad lightweight, played very well at the Stade Marseilles and Tauleigne was most impressive, making a great break and being on hand again in the build up to Bastereaud’s try.

9 – Maxine Machenaud (France)
Another controlled performance from the Racing scrumhalf, who is in very good form at the moment; he orchestrated things from the set-piece and kicked 17 points to contribute to his country’s 1st win of the Six Nations.

10 – Finn Russell (Scotland)
Russell was back to his very best against England, kicking very astutely, made 2 try assists and his passing was, well, sublime. That pass that went over Jonathan Joseph’s head in the build up to a try was judged to absolute perfection. One of the great Six Nations flyhalf performances.

11 – Sean Maitland (Scotland)
Finished well to score Scotland’s 1st try of the afternoon evading Watson’s tackle and was always a threat ball in hand and tackled well.

12 – Mathieu Bastareaud (France)
The huge French centre undeniably showed us what we’ve been missing, the Italians just couldn’t handle him as he carried so disruptively, showed some gorgeous hands and bundled his way over for a try for his efforts.

13 – Chris Farrell (Ireland)
Farrell certainly couldn’t have had a better Six Nations debut, stepping in magnificently for the injured Robbie Henshaw, made meters on every carry and also made some big hits in defence in his man of the match performance.

14 – Jacob Stockdale (Ireland)
The Ulster flyer is having a great Six Nations and is currently the tournament’s top try scorer. On Saturday he gathered a wonderful Jonny Sexton pass to score his 1st and read the Welsh play so well to intercept Gareth Anscombe’s overhead pass to score his 2nd.

15 – Huw Jones (Scotland)
I know he didn’t play fullback at the weekend but I’m moving him here to accommodate Basteraud and Farrell. He’s assembled an astonishing strike rate of scoring 10 tries in 13 test caps and scored a double in the Calcutta Cup on Saturday, showing both great awareness, raw speed and power to get over the whitewash on both occasions.

By Jacob Bassford