ROUND ONE OF the 2019 Six Nations is in the books, no resets, no back-tracking and no reigning champ in the best XV of the weekend.
15. Liam Williams (Wales)
Was not mired in Wales’ poor overall performance in the first-half. Came agonisingly close to a try from his own excellent break, was brilliant in the air and a constant threat on the counter.
14. George North (Wales)
Gifted his opening try, but deserves immense credit for his intercept before powering clear to seal a brilliant Welsh comeback in Paris. That city has a way of inspiring visiting teams to great things.
13. Henry Slade (England)
Took the game and then a bonus point for his side when he scored crucial second half tries. His best international performance to date, delivering on all the potential brilliance he shows week-in week-out with Exeter.
12. Manu Tuilagi (England)
A sensational return to the Six Nations after five years away. Made us all remember the force he is capable of being with bone-shuddering carries into contact.
11. Blair Kinghorn (Scotland)
Hard to keep out a hat-trick scorer and Kinghorn is fast becoming one of the best finishers in Europe.
10. Owen Farrell (England)
Ice cold off the kicking tee and full of fire when England were in defence, whether it was him or a man within ear-shot who was making the tackle. Expertly exposed Joe Schmidt’s decision to plunge Robbie Henshaw back to his old position at the very deep end.
9. Ben Youngs (England)
Excelled in all the areas Ireland hoped Conor Murray would dominate. Dictated the tempo and pulled the strings on England’s terrific kick-chase game.
1. Mako Vunipola (England)
Perhaps the player of the round, constantly made ground carrying into Ireland to help England re-take the title as tournament bullies and denied the champions room to manoeuvre with a jaw-dropping 27 tackles to his name.
2. Stuart McInally (Scotland)
Kept the line-out humming with his darts and continually popped up around the park for his side. The score was 33-3 when he was called ashore and Scotland deteriorated from there.
3. Kyle Sinckler (England)
The vocal volume of England’s effort in contact did not go unnoticed by Joe Schmidt and few howled more positive notes for his side than Kyle Sinckler. At one point he half apologised to referee Jerome Garces, saying: ‘sorry, sir. I’m very excited’. And he had reason to be as he ate through tackles, carries and clean-outs for his team.
4. Maro Itoje (England)
His game ended with him literally on one leg after he peeled himself off the turn and got into the defensive line despite a knee injury. Fortunate that his knee to Keith Earls midriff did not earn a sanction, but didn’t waste another second on the park as he led the physicality stakes that Ireland could not match.
5. Grant Gilchrist (Scotland)
Unlucky not to get on the scoreboard, but couldn’t be kept off the stats sheet thanks to his 19 tackles. Ensured Scotland remained on top of set-piece as he ran a seamless line-out.
6. Josh Navidi (Wales)
Excelled at the breakdown as Wales battled back to beat France. Made big yardage the few times he did carry and ran his fellow flanker close in the tackle count.
7. Justin Tipuric (Wales)
Popped up everywhere his side needed him, topping the tackle charts with 19, getting a hand to a drop-goal attempt and relentless in his work to turn the French tide.
8. Louis Picamoles (France)
A massive reason why France looked ideally set with 40 minutes played. Capped an impressive night of carrying with his try.
Coach: Eddie Jones
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Best English performance arguably since they beat NZ in 2012.
As off colour as we were it’s only fair to acknowledge how good they were.
Let’s see who will be the more consistent now for the rest of the championship
@Aaron Buckley: that’s true, though they’ve had a few months to work Ireland out. Will be interesting to see if Jones and Co can work out the others and their changes over the shortened time between games. And as you said keep up that intensity they showed. If they do that will be some effort.
When’s the last time there wasn’t one Irish player in a team of the week…… I still think we can turn it around and there’ll be a few in the team of the championship.
We aren’t as good as we thought we were before the England game and now we aren’t as bad as that performance indicates.
All the people spouting guff about “Best team in the world” hold a big portion of the blame.
@Phil O’ Meara: In reality we played just as badly in the first game last year but it was never stressed upon because of the drop goal stealing a win. People are definitely overreacting.
@Rochelle: yep , agree 100%
@Limón Madrugada: I agree and despite how bad we were there was 4 in it with 14 to go. Ireland gave up 3 of the tries. So not all doom. And gloom
We will come back from that . That is the reality of sport. The old cliches hold firm. This was , by far, the best game of the weekend.
To be a great team. You have to learn from the defeats. And hope to work harder and win next time
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/rugby/news/article.cfm?c_id=80&objectid=12200385
The NZ Herald’s reaction to the Irish English game the weekend. This notion that NZ rugby circles are humble needs to be put to bed. They are just as bad as any one else.
@Dave Barry: Did that notion ever exist? I have New Zealand friends who don’t read the NZ Herald. Surprised anyone in Ireland would.
@Dave Barry: hard to argue with that to be fair
@Dave Barry: The NZ Herald’s rugby coverage isn’t taken seriously by most New Zealand rugby fans.
It’s the equivalent of taking Neil Francis as an accurate representation of the average Irish rugby fan.
@Dave Barry: but if England play like that they beat NZ every time
If France play like they did in first 40 mins New Zealand win every time
So……
@Dave Barry: That was without doubt the most cynical and smug piece of rugby reporting i have ever read. The guy who wrote that has never been more than four miles from Waikato in his life.
@Dave Barry: Never heard of, or met, an humble NZ rugby person in all my years following the game.
Maro Itoje should have received a red card for the targeted deliberate dangerous knees in the chest of Keith Earls while making no attempt tl play the ball – he actually ran beyond the ball to take Keith out. The TV review clearly shows that Itoje was not even looking at the ball when he jumped into Earls, who was clearly looking at the ball and positioning himself for the trajectory.
The ref obviously wanted to avoid sending two England players off the field at the same time.
“Taking out” key Irish players with late tackles (which went inpunished) appeared to be part of the England game plan. It was a very low level to sink to, and they did not need to be so cynical as they were the better team on the day anyway.
D.L
@Dan Looney: it looked like Best had upset Garces about this stage in the game and any 50 50 call after that went England’s way.
To make a great team. You have to take defeats and learn from them.
The bubble had to burst sooner or later, in away this may be a blessing in disguise, last year was exceptional and no team is invincible .a great reality check.E ngland look a lot like Ireland last year, definitely the hungrier side and hungry eyes see far .Time to blood in the younger players ,after all its world cup year .
Where’s Henshaw
form is temporary, class is permanent!
Not one Irish player, says it all.
Chin up ? Let them get theirs outta the mud first .