Player of the Tournament?

[Feicarsinn]

Or maybe POC relying on his enormous reputation rather than his actual exploits in this 6N!!! He was good but really that good? I would go for AWJ......but there again, I think Dusatoir put in five enormous contributions I a poor French display!!

Tbf, Paulie hasn't been great over the past 12 months or so, but this tournament he was genuinely superb. Made more yards with ball in hand than he probably ever has in his career.

 

[91jmay]

Webb made some big errors though as well. His kick against England reason we got on top and we didn't let go from there.

 

[SelimNiai]

Webb made some big errors though as well. His kick against England reason we got on top and we didn't let go from there.

Webb's box kicking in general was a weak point of his game, too many were sliced or too long

 

[Groundhog]

Or maybe POC relying on his enormous reputation rather than his actual exploits in this 6N!!! He was good but really that good? I would go for AWJ......but there again, I think Dusatoir put in five enormous contributions I a poor French display!!

To be honest, I've not been happy with Paulie's form for Munster this season, and he may have been riding on rep before now, but he lifted it hugely this six nations. He was as good as he's ever been. Take a look back on a few matches and just watch the fella throwing himself about. He's the spearhead of a very calm and driven Irish team in my opinion, but he offered so much aside from leadership. His carrying was even good, which is odd for him. That said, I wouldn't be particularly agrieved if a guy like AWJ got it. Massive respect for Dusatoir too given the attitude of a lot of players around him.

 

[91jmay]

AWJ was absolutely immense for me, but POC leadership was so massive for the Irish I would be fine with him getting it as well.

Ben youngs best back I saw, Biggar/JJ/Henshaw all excellent as well.

 

[SelimNiai]

To be honest, I've not been happy with Paulie's form for Munster this season, and he may have been riding on rep before now, but he lifted it hugely this six nations. He was as good as he's ever been. Take a look back on a few matches and just watch the fella throwing himself about. He's the spearhead of a very calm and driven Irish team in my opinion, but he offered so much aside from leadership. His carrying was even good, which is odd for him. That said, I wouldn't be particularly agrieved if a guy like AWJ got it. Massive respect for Dusatoir too given the attitude of a lot of players around him.

Take the game against us, (admittedly poor tackling caused it) but POC made 2 clear line breaks against us. I cant recall the last time that happened.

 

[chippieolamus]

Dusautoir and Mas from France, Ghiraldini and Parisse from Italy, Bennett and Finn from Scotland, Brown, Cole, Ben Youngs and Ford for England, POC, SOB, Heaslip, Henshaw and Sexton from Ireland, AWJ, Warbs, Biggar, Baldwin and Roberts from Wales.

Realistically, would you say that some of these players (highlighted in bold) deserve to be in with a chance of the best player in the tournament. Sure, they were all good, but were they really good enough to be considered?

 

[Irishkid]

AWJ was absolutely immense for me, but POC leadership was so massive for the Irish I would be fine with him getting it as well.

Ben youngs best back I saw, Biggar/JJ/Henshaw all excellent as well.

Youngs has a great running game but his kicking is aimless and rubbish just look at the France game.

 

[91jmay]

Youngs has a great running game but his kicking is aimless and rubbish just look at the France game.

Aside from Murray none of the 9s kick that well, and Murray adds little ball in hand.

 

[munstermuffin]

Surprisingly few players remained fit for all matches and performed well in every one, POC edges if from AWJ for my by virtue of his better leadership (possibly unfair to AWJ as he isn't captain like POC) and lineout work.

Those 2 stood out consistently over rest though.

 

[Isengard]

For me Sexton because I think he literally made the difference, providing Ireland with the points that their immense forwards created via penalties. For example, he was absolutely central to Ireland's win against England.

I was really impressed as well with Biggar who has been maligned but I thought his kicking from hand and general play has come on leaps and bounds. For France it's hard to choose anyone as they were simply poor. Parisse is still world class. I think Hogg (dropped balls aside) has now come into the elite of world full backs. For England Joseph probably.

 

[munstermuffin]

For me Sexton because I think he literally made the difference, providing Ireland with the points that their immense forwards created via penalties. For example, he was absolutely central to Ireland's win against England.

I was really impressed as well with Biggar who has been maligned but I thought his kicking from hand and general play has come on leaps and bounds. For France it's hard to choose anyone as they were simply poor. Parisse is still world class. I think Hogg (dropped balls aside) has now come into the elite of world full backs. For England Joseph probably.

Thing about Sexton is he was very poor against Wales and average against Scots. Too inconsistent which in my eyes simply was down to injuries and for some reason I don't think he's fully over his concussion issues.

 

[Lomu]

To be awarded player of the tournament requires a big performance in all 5 games. Sexton didn't deliver in all 5, ford was outclassed v Ireland, bigger had poor game v England, all the front runners had one game that fell below par with exception of O'Connell. He has been in squad on presence rather than merit at times but he saved his best work for his final 6 nations. I think the fact that he got his team over the line is proof enough that he earned it. Great with ball in hand and was hungrier than I've seen before. A fitting finish to a great 6N career.

 

[Isengard]

Thing about Sexton is he was very poor against Wales and average against Scots. Too inconsistent which in my eyes simply was down to injuries and for some reason I don't think he's fully over his concussion issues.

I think he is still suffering from injury. I think against Wales the high kicking game failed against an inspired aerial performance by the likes of Halfpenny who refused to be bullied off the ball like England had been. JS's plan seems to be to bed in the new centres by leaving the bulk of the work to the forwards because Sexton will kick the points. For me on form and fit he is the clear stand-out 10 in the Northern Hemisphere. He has all the facets to his game, he is a metronomic kicker (usually), his kicking from hand is both accurate and has a full range, he distributes well, he can play flat or deeper, he tackles soundly. I would love a similar player in England!

 

[91jmay]

Sexton was poor basically every game compared to his usual standards. Wouldn't even be in the conversation for me (think Ford/Biggar/Russell all had better 6Ns than him at 10 alone).

 

[munstermuffin]

To be awarded player of the tournament requires a big performance in all 5 games. Sexton didn't deliver in all 5, ford was outclassed v Ireland, bigger had poor game v England, all the front runners had one game that fell below par with exception of O'Connell. He has been in squad on presence rather than merit at times but he saved his best work for his final 6 nations. I think the fact that he got his team over the line is proof enough that he earned it. Great with ball in hand and was hungrier than I've seen before. A fitting finish to a great 6N career.

In fairness to Paulie he was ok for Munster this year at best but he's been incredible for Ireland all season. He'd a fantastic autumn series despite lacking game time before it. Don't think any irish person would say he was there on presence. He was 1 who easily merited a spot

 

[munstermuffin]

I think he is still suffering from injury. I think against Wales the high kicking game failed against an inspired aerial performance by the likes of Halfpenny who refused to be bullied off the ball like England had been. JS's plan seems to be to bed in the new centres by leaving the bulk of the work to the forwards because Sexton will kick the points. For me on form and fit he is the clear stand-out 10 in the Northern Hemisphere. He has all the facets to his game, he is a metronomic kicker (usually), his kicking from hand is both accurate and has a full range, he distributes well, he can play flat or deeper, he tackles soundly. I would love a similar player in England!

I'd have no issues saying Sexton is clearly best 10 in Europe if not the world on form. But this 6 Nations him Biggar and Ford were all in similar stature. And for player of tournament Sexton really only had 2 excellent games so it's hard to consider him player of tournament.

 

[bw245]

Don't think Sexton is still suffering from concussion problems. Just think he was unfit to play against Wales and was rushed back, which shows how much we rely on him, which is a huge problem.

 

[Raggs]

Joseph for me, great attack and defence. Top try scorer and great vision.

 

[MojoPin]

If England had won then George Ford would have been my top choice - what a talent he is, Owen Farrell and Cipriani have a hell of a task trying to get ahead of him. Jonathan Joseph also exceptional.

But the winning team should get a mention and for Ireland Paul O'Connell was fantastic. If he keeps going like this he could easily be another Victor Matfield / Nick Easter, playing well past the point where other players would give up. Sexton had somewhat limited game time but has the potential to be one of the star players at the RWC.

As a Wales supporter my stand out performers were Sam Warburton and Alun Wyn Jones. Mentions also for Dan Biggar, Scott Williams and Leigh Halfpenny. We may not have won but feeling very good about our RWC chances after the tournament. Together with Ireland and England think there's a very good chance of a NH side getting to the final, which is very exciting!