6N Team of the Tournament

George Carlin wrote:I haven't started a fight in ages, so here goes.

In my defence, all I'm doing is relaying two ToTs which have already been chosen - the first by the PA News Agency and the second by PlanetRugby.com (therefore with a quite a diverse range of influences).

PA NEWS AGENCY

15. Hugo Keenan (Ireland)
14. Damian Penaud (France)
13. Huw Jones (Scotland)
12. Gael Fickou (France)
11. Mack Hansen (Ireland)
10. Finn Russell (Scotland)
09. Antoine Dupont (France)

08. Caelan Doris (Ireland)
07. Josh Van der Flier (Ireland)
06. Sebastian Negri (Italy)
05. James Ryan (Ireland)
04. Thibaud Flament (France)
03. Finlay Bealham (Ireland)
02. Dan Sheehan (Ireland)
01. Pierre Schoeman (Scotland)

PLANETRUGBY.COM

15. Thomas Ramos (France)
14. Damian Penaud (France)
13. Huw Jones (Scotland)
12. Sione Tuipulotu (Scotland)
11. James Lowe (Ireland)
10. Johnny Sexton (Ireland)
09. Antoine Dupont (France)

08. Caelan Doris (Ireland)
07. Francois Cros (France)
06. Charles Ollivon (France)
05. James Ryan (Ireland)
04. Thibaud Flament (France)
03. Finlay Bealham (Ireland)
02. Dan Sheehan (Ireland)
01. Andrew Porter (Ireland)

Have at it.

Six Nations 2023: What were teams good at and what are their World Cup chances?

With the 2023 Six Nations done and dusted, Opta's Nick Bentley takes a look at the numbers to see how the teams performed and how they are shaping up for this autumn's Rugby World Cup in France.

Ireland
The 2023 Six Nations was pitched as a battle between the top two ranked teams in the world, Ireland v France, and that's how it played out. Ultimately Ireland had too much for all their opponents and won a third Six Nations Grand Slam and fifth Championship overall.

In trademark Andy Farrell style, Ireland kept a firm grip on their matches by playing tight. In fact a competition high 55% of their play remained within 10 metres of the previous breakdown. That said they also had arguably the most potent back-three in the Championship, meaning when they did move the ball to those extremities, more often than not they scored.

Hugo Keenan and James Lowe topped the metres gained rankings while Lowe also contributed 10 line breaks, the most of any player. In fact, as a unit, Ireland's tally of 39 breaks was the most of any team.

Ireland were also extremely disciplined, conceding a competition low 44 penalties and finishing the Championship as the only side not to receive a card. A miserly defence in the red zone was also crucial, conceding just 1.2 points per entry to the 22, the best rate of any side.

Can anyone beat Ireland? They've lost just two of their past 24 matches (v France and New Zealand) and are on a 10-game winning streak, including a pair of wins over the All Blacks, victories over South Africa and Australia and a Grand Slam.

Their World Cup history is probably the most disappointing of any leading rugby nation, having never progressed past the quarter-finals. But this Ireland side fears no-one and has the talent, leadership and strategy to go all the way.

France
Les Bleus headed into this Six Nations on a record 13-game unbeaten run, however they could only extend that to 14 games before they were undone by a brilliant Ireland side. They bounced back with flamboyant wins against Scotland, England and Wales.

As a team they avoided nearly a third (29%) of the tackles they faced, with Damian Penaud, Antoine Dupont and Ethan Dumortier all in the top five of this category individually. Penaud had a remarkable tackle evasion rate of 81%, dodging 25 would-be defenders and only being tackled six times.

Best tackle evasion (20+ tackles faced)
Player Country Tackle evasion
Damian Penaud France 81%
Blair Kinghorn Scotland 60%
Antoine Dupont France 55%
Ange Capuozzo Italy 53%
Ethan Dumortier France 53%

Fabien Galthie's men were also clinical when they made a break, converting 50% (17/34) of their line breaks into tries, the best rate of any side. This attacking efficiency is mirrored in the fact they averaged three points per opposition 22 entry, again the best rate of any team. A competition high gainline success rate of 55% rounds off the CV, so despite having the least possession (45%), they definitely took the prize for best attack.

As World Cup hosts, the pressure will be firmly on France come September, especially as they kick the tournament off against three-time champions New Zealand. But this side are phenomenally talented and have the cohesion to go deep. If they do lose that opener, they could face a nervy final pool game against Italy to decide who progresses to the knockout stages.

Scotland
A solid defence is a vital foundation for any side and Scotland's tackle success rate of 92% was the best of any team; Jack Dempsey (55/55) and Jonny Gray (51/51) made more tackles than anyone else in the tournament not to miss a single hit.

On the flip side, Scotland chose to play with width in attack, going wide more often (14%) than any other side. This bravery was rewarded with the second-best red zone conversion rate in the tournament, averaging 2.8 points per opposition 22 entry.

Individually, Finn Russell is their star. However, his game is high risk, high reward. High for missed tackles (12) and turnovers conceded (12) but also sitting joint top for try assists (4), and top among fly-halves for metres gained (218) and defenders beaten (11).

Duhan van der Merwe is slightly more consistent in his threat. In this Six Nations he was one of two Scotland players to play every minute (also Jamie Ritchie), beating 35 defenders along the way, surpassing his own record from 2021 (31).

Most defenders beaten in a single Six Nations campaign
Player Country Defenders beaten Year
Duhan van der Merwe Scotland 35 2023
Duhan van der Merwe Scotland 31 2021
Brian O'Driscoll Ireland 30 2000
Emile N'tamack France 26 2000
George North Wales 26 2016

Scotland head into the World Cup with big ambitions, however a tough pool awaits. Defending champions South Africa are first up before a huge match against Ireland. They'll be underdogs to escape the pool but both the Springboks and Ireland will be nervous about playing a rejuvenated Scotland. As with everything Russell is involved in, expect the unexpected.

England
Steve Borthwick endured a challenging first Six Nations as head coach. His side broke the defensive line the least often of any outfit (16 times), and combined with the lowest tackle success rate (83%) and worst goal-kicking (62%) you can understand how they failed to pick up more than a couple of wins.

Having the slowest average ruck speed (3.8 seconds) of any team didn't help their attack find the gaps, nor did the four unique midfield combinations (10-12-13) they had through the campaign.

One area of success they did have was in the set-piece and maul. England managed the best line-out success rate (92%) of any team, made the most maul metres of any side and scored as many tries from mauls (3) as the other nations combined. They completed the set-piece strength by managing the best scrum success rate in the Championship (96%).

Country Scrums won
England 96.3%
Ireland 91.3%
France 90%
Scotland 89.3%
Italy 85.7%
Wales 80.8%
Country Line-outs won
England 92.4%
Italy 88.8%
France 87.5%
Ireland 85.7%
Scotland 85.3%
Wales 85.1%

England start their World Cup with tough games against Argentina and Japan, both of whom are familiar with picking up big scalps in the tournament. Can Borthwick build cohesion and confidence in the short time before that opening game?

There will be no freebies to build into the tournament and their hopes could be all over before they play Chile and Samoa if they don't hit the ground running.

Wales
Warren Gatland's return provided some pre-tournament buzz but in the end a somewhat fortuitous victory against a wasteful Italy spared them the Wooden Spoon. Their lack of attacking threat and leaky defence are big worries.

Their tally of 147 points conceded was their highest since 2002 (188) while they also had the lowest success rates at the line-out (85%), scrum (81%) and breakdown (95%). They were also the only team not to score a try from a counter-attack and they sat bottom of the charts for defenders beaten (79) and metres gained (1,807).

One positive to draw upon is that they were getting in the positions to score points, behind only Ireland (10.6) and France (10.2) for opposition 22 entries per game (10). The worry is they only registered 1.6 points per entry, the poorest return for any side.

Wales have a lot of work to do if they want to go deep at the World Cup. A relatively sympathetic pool - thanks in large part to Wales' ranking back when the draw was made - means they'll be confident of escaping to the knockout stages. There are serious banana skins against Georgia (who beat them last November) and Fiji (who beat them in the 2007 RWC) which could derail those ambitions.

Italy
Although Italy picked up an eighth consecutive Wooden Spoon, and 18th in total, their performances were vastly improved. Their average result margin this year was -12, their best in 10 years and one big positive was their ability to hang on in the second half. In fact, the Azzurri 'won' the second half in two of their matches (v England & Wales) and drew another (v France).

Quick ruck speed was crucial to Italy's momentum in attack, their average of three seconds per ruck was the fastest of any side, and in Paolo Garbisi they have a real maestro who can marshal that advance. Despite playing just 232 minutes, only Mack Hansen (7) made more passes that led to a line-break than the Italian fly-half (6).

Player Country Minutes Break assists
Mack Hansen Ireland 400 7
Juan Ignacio Brex Italy 400 6
Paolo Garbisi Italy 232 6
Finn Russell Scotland 320 4
Owen Farrell England 354 3
Bundee Aki Ireland 268 3
Romain Ntamack France 367 3
Tommaso Allan Italy 328 3

Italy face the unenviable challenge of playing New Zealand and France at the World Cup. They've never beaten the All Blacks and have an average losing margin of 48 points from 15 matches. A narrow defeat against Les Bleus (29-24) in this Championship, however, will give them a glimmer of hope of upsetting the hosts in their final game and sneaking out of a devilish pool.

No 7&1/2 wrote:Dupont becomes the second player to win 6Ns player of the tournament 3 times. Have to admit he wouldn't have made it to my shortlist I don't think. He was superb against England but before that I thought he was quiet.

Collapse2005 wrote:It was probably the most dominant grand slam of all time in the six nations, 27 points is the highest points total ever, no team has come so close to getting a try bp in every game, lowest winning margin was 11 points win. Its not that surprising there were lots of Irish players but I do agree 10 is more than I expected anyway.

mikey_dragon wrote:

Collapse2005 wrote:It was probably the most dominant grand slam of all time in the six nations, 27 points is the highest points total ever, no team has come so close to getting a try bp in every game, lowest winning margin was 11 points win. Its not that surprising there were lots of Irish players but I do agree 10 is more than I expected anyway.

.... because when that England team dominated there were no bonus points in the 6N. Were you as dominant as them?

Collapse2005 wrote:It was probably the most dominant grand slam of all time in the six nations, 27 points is the highest points total ever, no team has come so close to getting a try bp in every game, lowest winning margin was 11 points win. Its not that surprising there were lots of Irish players but I do agree 10 is more than I expected anyway.

George Carlin wrote:

Collapse2005 wrote:It was probably the most dominant grand slam of all time in the six nations, 27 points is the highest points total ever, no team has come so close to getting a try bp in every game, lowest winning margin was 11 points win. Its not that surprising there were lots of Irish players but I do agree 10 is more than I expected anyway.

I agree that it's relevant they only introduced bonus points recently.

I think a better example of dominance is to look at the points differences of the teams. Ireland on +79, France on +59, Scotland on +20. Then quite a big gap to England on -35 and Wales on -63.

Collapse2005 wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:

Collapse2005 wrote:It was probably the most dominant grand slam of all time in the six nations, 27 points is the highest points total ever, no team has come so close to getting a try bp in every game, lowest winning margin was 11 points win. Its not that surprising there were lots of Irish players but I do agree 10 is more than I expected anyway.

.... because when that England team dominated there were no bonus points in the 6N. Were you as dominant as them?

Yeah I think the England team that won a slam in 2003 were probably the only team that can compare really. They wouldn't have got 5 bonus points but only would have got four just like the Ireland side. That England team only beat their closest rivals France by 8 points at home and only scored one try in that game and less tries overall but hammered everyone else. The difference though with Ireland's slam though is the quality of competition is much much higher this time round, even Italy were a challenge for most sides.

No 7&1/2 wrote:Probably should be noted it's a vote from fans as well.

Collapse2005 wrote:

No 7&1/2 wrote:Probably should be noted it's a vote from fans as well.

Which makes it surprising to me that only Mike Brown has won the award from England.

king_carlos wrote:

Collapse2005 wrote:

No 7&1/2 wrote:Probably should be noted it's a vote from fans as well.

Which makes it surprising to me that only Mike Brown has won the award from England.

It just makes it surprising to me that Mike Brown won to be honest.