6 Nations - Team of the Weekend
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1. Joe Marler
The England loose head performed admirably against Francis and left his mark on Jones in the 2nd half.
He was dominant in loose play making 16/16 tackles and used his large frame to bully the opposition at the scrum time and the breakdown.
2. Ken Owens
Maintained a 100 per cent success in the lineout - Owens showed his versatility as he was strong defensively making16 tackles combined with some powerful touches in attack to keep Wales in contention in the battle around the fringes.
3. Uini Atonio
The New-Zealand born front row weighing in at 152kg set the scrummaging tone early, wheeling the Scottish scrum around the pitch, while making his presence known at ruck time.
4. Joe Launchbury
The England second row was the deserved man of the match. He carried the ball 18 times and made 20 tackles in defence.
Lauchbury has shown he is more than capable of disrupting the regular second-row partnership of Kruis and Itoje.
5. Tim Swinson
Swinson scored his first international try with his opening carry of the game in the second half in Paris, which gave Scotland the lead. He made a considerable contribution off the bench for his side.
6. CJ Stander
Another monstrous performance from the Ireland flanker, once told he was too small to play international rugby. He broke a 6N record, becoming the first forward to score a hat-trick.
Stander scored three tries, made 2 turnovers, 10 tackles, a try assist, carried 24 times for a gain of 70 metres, beating 10 defenders and making 3 clean line breaks.
A quite magnificent performance from the almost guaranteed, Lions No. 6.
7. Justin Tipuric
Very solid defensively, was given little chance to show his pace with ball in hand. An overall encouraging performance from the very talented openside.
8. Ross Moriarty
A strange decision on 53 minutes saw Moriarty depart the field, as he delivered an immense performance.
The 22-year-old, provided some bullish carries in attack, while adding his power with some eye-catching tackles in defence which halted England's momentum.
9. Rhys Webb
The Ospreys scrum half showed some real signs of quality. Nearly scored a try by sniping around the ruck as he so often does, only to come up short.
Played a leading role in Liam Williams' try, a set-piece move saw the Wales winger dart through the England defence.
10. Paddy Jackson
Perfect performance from the Ulster fly-half, dismissed concerns about his ability to dominate a Test match.
Kicked all his goals and controlled the game well with an array of passing. Will be hard to drop against France in Round 3.
11. Elliot Daly
One of his best displays in an England shirt. Daly was the match winner, showing his pace to get the crucial try from 30 m out. Could of easily been awarded the man of the match.
12. Gael Fickou
Fickou scored for the hosts, bursting through two tackles to barge over in corner after extended pressure. Gael ran 9 times for 43m, beating 2 defenders following his clean line break.
13. Garry Ringrose
A very impressive outing in just his second Test away from home. Ringrose carried very well in the first half and set a relentless line-speed after the break.
He topped the metres made in Rome and capped off the performance with a fine late solo effort, as he cut inside following a Jackson pass in midfield to scythe his way through the Italian defence.
14. Craig Gilroy
The super-sub scored a second half hat-trick in just over 30 minutes. The Ulster man looked bright from the second he came on. His pace from a standing start caused nightmares for the tired Italian defenders.
15. Stuart Hogg
Another accomplished performance in both attack and defence. Hogg crossed for the opening try following a passage of 15 phases.
Scoring a try in his 4th successive 6 Nations game, in the game in which he became the youngest player to reach 50 caps.
