6 Nations Player of the Tournament

[Ospreylian]

So, me and my housemate (j'nuh, he's a member on here) have been discussing who would be the main contenders for player of the tournament so far, disregarding the fact only Man of the Match performers can win the award.

Obviously the last round of fixtures may reveal other players to be contenders, but for now my main contenders would be: Halfpenny, A Jones, Picamoles, Zanni, Parisse, Parling, Robshaw, Hogg, Beattie, O'Brien

However, I think the two stand-outs from that list are Halfpenny and Picamoles, and I can't really decide between them. They have been the most consistent players of the tournament. What would be your shortlist?

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Picamoles, hands down.
Halfpenny has been a consistent performer, but wouldn't say he's been the best player. Picamoles has been outstanding.

 

[big ginger 8]

Picamoles but I want to say O'Brien.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

It's going to be Robshaw though, isn't it!

 

[Saint Matt]

Halfpenny is bound to receive more media attention, and his kicking ability both out of hand and off the tee has been crucial for Wales, but for me, Louis Picamoles has been absolutely outstanding throughout the championship - quality player.

 

[dullonien]

Halfpenny for me. Two man of the match awards, barely made a mistake and has kicked almost everything. He's been monumental imo.

 

[Joseph14]

Tom Wood should replace Parling in that list.

Picamoles is the answer though.

 

[nickdnz]

For me it's Stuart Hogg, Picamoles coming second.

 

[Draggs]

For me it's Stuart Hogg, Picamoles coming second.

Did Hogg play on Saturday?

Zanni is an excellent backrow. Fan of Favaro as well.

 

[nickdnz]

Did Hogg play on Saturday?

Zanni is an excellent backrow. Fan of Favaro as well.

He did. Wasn't his best game comparred to his others this tournament, however he still ran the third most metres for Scotland (around 3x as many metres as Halfpenny), and had a nice offload, made all his tackles etc. Not really the game for him to shine - but I thought judging on the whole tournament he was the best player in my opinion.

 

[Draggs]

Should have added a wink.
Running metres mean nothing. We chose to kick long, they went for corners.

Picamoles is outstanding. Can we get him a British passport before we head to Aus?

 

[j'nuh]

So, me and my housemate (j'nuh, he's a member on here)

Not your super duper best friend forever and ever?

Hard to see past Picamoles and Halfpenny imo. Picamoles stats are insane. 5.5m per carry, 10 turnovers, 5 clean breaks, 14 defenders beaten, all in a struggling team. Dusautoir got all the headlines in recent years, but Harinordoquy was my favourite French player, and it's nice to see a good replacement for him.

Worst player of the tournament? Michalak? Goode? Ashton?

 

[Rhondda Rudie]

Halfpenny for me.Picamoles has also been excellent.Also surprised Launchberry hasn't been mentioned.

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Worst player of the tournament? Michalak? Goode? Ashton?

O'Gara?

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Got to be ROG or Michalak.
Goode and Ashton haven't be great, but haven't been particularly terrible (bar Ashton's "defence" for Fofana's try).
ROG and Michalak have been actively poor. I'm tempted to lean towards Michalak for the way he handled the end of the Ireland game (good field position, two good kickers on the side, within dropgoal range...he grubbers it over the deadball line instead).

 

[Ospreylian]

I think the worst player of the last round at least was Goode. He was absolutely terrible. That moment when England had about a 7 to 2 overlap to the left of the field and Goode decided to fumble into Flood and not pass it through the hands for what should have been the simplest try in the history of rugby. He was rubbish under the high ball too. The moment he caught a ball in his own 22 when nobody else was remotely near him (which is something ALL fullbacks can do) and Dallaglio on the commentary said he has been a "great" and "solid" player all tournament made me choke a little bit. What on earth is Dallaglio watching?? Because all I have seen throughout the tournament is an inept back three for England who do not have a clue how to score tries or tackle or pass or just generally handle a rugby ball.

 

[McTallshort]

Goode was poor yesterday but was outstanding against Ireland and France. O'Gara or Heaslip for worse player along with Gray or Ashton.

Best player Picamoles, Robshaw or Halfpenny but to be honest its hardly been a vintage year.....

 

[Ospreylian]

How crazy is it that Halfpenny has 43 caps at the age of 24?! At this rate the guy's gonna hit the 100 mark by the time he's 28!

 

[ZeFrenchy]

To be honest, I don't get all the Picamoles love. He's such a one trick pony... I'd take Parisse any day of the week, or Harinordoquy in his time.

Player of the 6N would be Robshaw for me, but I feel like voting for Halfpenny to end the backrow dominance.

 

[Ospreylian]

To be honest, I don't get all the Picamoles love. He's such a one trick pony... I'd take Parisse any day of the week, or Harinordoquy in his time.

Player of the 6N would be Robshaw for me, but I feel like voting for Halfpenny to end the backrow dominance.

Having thought a bit more about it, yeah I actually think that, when he's been playing, Parisse has been just as good as Picamoles. He's been outstanding, and is absolutely critical to Italy playing well - not many players can say that about themselves. He just pops up everywhere and does everything.

But I wouldn't say Picamoles is a one trick pony. He's a number 8 very much in the Parisse mold - good ball carrier, some good pace when in open space, can force turnovers, thinks on his feet and offloads well, reads the game in front of him and plays accordingly.

I think Halfpenny and Picamoles have both been consistently better than Robshaw in their respective positions. But on very positive note, Robshaw made 16 tackles against Italy and missed one, so he was probably the sole reason Italy didn't win that one!

Also, back to Goode, of the 8 tackles he has made over the course of the tournament he has missed 4. That's really not good enough, definitely not international standards anyway.