Test Team of the Week
- 8688
Test rugby returned to the Northern Hemisphere with the Six Nations resuming while Scotland, Georgia and France, Wales played off in 'friendly matches' ahead of the remainder of the Six Nations and the upcoming Autumn Nations Cup.
The first game back saw Scotland claim a convincing 48-7 victory over Georgia on Friday before Ireland kept their hopes of winning the Six Nations alive with a 50-17 demolition of Italy.
The final game of the weekend saw France cruise to 38-21 win over Wales at the Stade de France.
Following the weekend's action, we select our Test Team of the Week:
1. Mikheil Nariashvilli - Georgia
Georgia were largely disappointing on Friday night but there was a real standout in loosehead prop Mikheil Nariashvilli.
As per usual, his scrummaging was of a high order while he was extremely busy around the park topping the tackle count in the match, only bettered by Will Connors this weekend, with 18 missing just one in his 54 minutes.
2. Fraser Brown - Scotland
Captaining the side in the absence of Stuart Hogg, Brown put in a handy shift for Scotland racking up 20 carries - the highest tally this weekend - for 30 metres and scored a brace of tries.
3. Andrew Porter - Ireland
A real threat over the ball and on defence, Porter has filled in expertly while Tadgh Furlong has been injured and Saturday's match against Italy was no different.
4. Tadgh Beirne - Ireland
A busy man at the Aviva on Saturday, Beirne got through a ton of work for Ireland and managed to edge Bernard Le Roux for a place in the side.
Only Will Connors managed to make more tackles than the second-rower in the match while he was a solid option at the lineout and got over the ball well to slow Italy's attacks.
5. Alun-Wyn Jones - Wales
148 and not out, Jones played to his usual high standard for Wales on Saturday.
He made his tackles, cleared out rucks and ran the Welsh lineout well.
6. Sebastien Negri - Italy
One of Italy's best on Saturday, Negri consistently drew defenders in with his strong carries, made a key break early on in the game and was solid on defence.
7. Will Connors - Ireland
A man of the match performance on his test debut sees Will Connors beat Charles Ollivon to a place in our test team of the week.
No player made more tackles this weekend than the new Irish International while he also managed to grab a few turnovers and score a try.
8. CJ Stander - Ireland
Picked up from where he left off in the Six Nations earlier this year.
Stander was a threat at the breakdown while also making over 70 running metres from his 20 carries.
9. Antoine Dupont - France
Dupont showed why so many rate him as the best halfback in the world. He ran sensational support lines, terrorized the Welsh defence around the fringes and came up with two tries and a try assist.
10. Romain Ntamack - France
Controlled France's attack superbly while nailing all six of his shots at goal.
A measured and controlled game from the French 10 who also managed over 30 running metres and didn't miss a single attempted tackle.
11. Hugo Keenan - Ireland
A dream debut from the 24-year-old former sevens star as he scored a first half brace against Italy.
He made well over 100 running metres in the clash made all seven of his tackles and took both of his opportunities to score excellently.
12. Gael Fickou - France
Once Fickou's finest performances in the French jersey.
He made a number of excellent reads on defence making all of his attempted tackles while he was just as impactful on attack notably delaying his pass when Justin Tipuric shot up to set up a try.
13. Virimi Vakatawa - France
Vakatawa's ball carrying and offload ability came to the fore once again for France as he combined wonderfully with Gael Fickou. Jonathan Davies was excellent on his return to test rugby while Robbie Henshaw was solid for Ireland once Garry Ringrose left the pitch injured.
14. Darcy Graham - Scotland
Dotted down twice for Scotland making over 80 running metres while making a positive contribution on defence.
15. Blair Kinghorn - Scotland
A threat every time he touched the ball, Kinghorn made an impressive 147 running metres against Georgia and managed to score a try in Scotland's 48-7 win over Georgia.
