2019 6 Nations team of the tournament.

[Scotty]

Mako. Unfortunate injury but he showed is work in the first 2 games before injury and we missed him.
McInally
Sinks
AWJ
Ryan
Steyn
Curry
Billy (struggled on this position considered Nvidia 6, steyn 8 as he played a game for italy there)
9 tibaldi
10 anscombe
11 may
12 manu
13 slade
14 adams
15 williams

Parkes Jdavies played well and defended well but brought little in the way off attack. Manu slade both really stepped up.

 

[Reiser99]

Navidi went to 8 in almost every game for 25-20 mins each time though. Being picky Navidi is actually a 7.

Also saving Tuillagi cant defend the outside very well as he isnt a natural 13 as he fits the 12 mould far better. His defence is a weakness for him.

Those points are completely irrelevant. The point is you criticise someone for picking a player out of position and then say you want another player picked out of position. Doesn't matter if he played there towards the end as a sub, that's not where he was picked. Tuilagi and Slade were swapping places consistently and weren't fixed.

 

[Bluemoon]

Love seeing Navidi in these suggested teams. I am happily biased, but he's been playing like this for Cardiff for a long time. More of a 8/6 at Cardiff, although he has had Sam and Ellis in the team at the same time.

 

[Pieter Steph du Teague]

This isn't even slightly objective; I only saw a handful of the games that England didn't play but from what I did see:
1. Vunipola - I know he only played 2 games but he put in unbelievable shifts in those 2 games and no other LHs have really stood out to me.
2. McInally - I've seen Ghiraldini getting a lot of votes; can't say I watched too much of Italy so McInally gets the vote from me.
3. Sinckler - People will remember him after this tournament for 'losing his head' but his play has been outstanding. His defence and ball handling have been superb.
4. Alun Wyn Jones - It's really only a case of who pairs with him.
5. Kruis - Had an understated tournament but he was at the heart of a lot of what went right for England; for me he's the first lock on England's team sheet.
6. Navidi - Huge workrate and massively physical.
7. Curry - Really came of age this tournament; we knew what he could do at the breakdown and in terms of work rate but his physicality both in defence and with ball in hand have made him my Player of the Tournament.
8. Steyn - Hadn't heard of him before this tournament but he's been seriously impressive for Italy. Honestly, between him, Polledri and Negri I wouldn't start Parisse in that Italian back row.
9. Tibaldi - Pretty dire tournament for 9s to be honest. I've given it to Tibaldi because he was exciting; even if was because you never knew whether the ball would be passed to a player or to the floor.
10. Russell - Close call between him and Biggar but Russell just edges it.
11. Adams
12. Parkes
13. Slade
14. May
15. Williams

Got bored of typing explanations. Think 11-15 are all pretty clear cut decisions, the closest of which being Parkes vs Tuilagi but Tuilagi went missing in a couple of games so Parkes edges it.

 

[truthteller]

Mako. Unfortunate injury but he showed is work in the first 2 games before injury and we missed him.
McInally
Sinks
AWJ
Ryan
Steyn
Curry
Billy (struggled on this position considered Nvidia 6, steyn 8 as he played a game for italy there)
9 tibaldi
10 anscombe
11 may
12 manu
13 slade
14 adams
15 williams

Parkes Jdavies played well and defended well but brought little in the way off attack. Manu slade both really stepped up.

wales didnt run the ball so their outside backs didnt get a lot of ball, but jon foxy davies was involved in 4 of the welsh tries, scored 1 in scotland and had 1 disallowed it italy. he also kicked brilliantly with his left peg...parkes also had 2 huge games the last few weeks. scored the try set up another

 

[Scotty]

wales didnt run the ball so their outside backs didnt get a lot of ball, but jon foxy davies was involved in 4 of the welsh tries, scored 1 in scotland and had 1 disallowed it italy. he also kicked brilliantly with his left peg...parkes also had 2 huge games the last few weeks. scored the try set up another

I know wales won the 6n and deserved it but from this championship and nothing else slade v davies for me slade wins. Multiple intercepts, great passing game in accyracy and timing, good in defence maybe not JD level but still good. JD > Slade but slade had a better tournement as an individual player IMHO

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Try scoring isn't the best metric to judge a player as they're rarely individual efforts but Slade did score three and set up a half dozen more. He really did have an excellent tournament.

 

[TW27BA]

Not trying to be a douche but you cant pick two 12s in the first team. That team would get destroyed on the defensively.

Wales won the grandslam via defence and that was led by Jon Davies. He is in at 13.

Also has a Welsham Moriarty was not all that as an 8. Navidi at 8 making room for Watson.

Also Nowell ahead of Adams? Can I have some of what you are smoking? Guy cant even make the England team regularly. Adams is up for player of the tournament.

Also dont rate Davies as the best 9 either. May even go for the Italian 9?

I think you are trying very hard.

I picked Nowell on the right wing as that was his position. Adams played left wing and May was better. End of.

Funny you have a go at me for picking Manu at 13 which is his natural position, yet happily switch your selections into positions they didn't play.

You seem to have a big chubby on for J Davies when Slade had a far better tournament IMO. Welsh bias or rose tinted glasses?

 

[Thingimubob]

I think you are trying very hard.

I picked Nowell on the right wing as that was his position. Adams played left wing and May was better. End of.

Funny you have a go at me for picking Manu at 13 which is his natural position, yet happily switch your selections into positions they didn't play.

You seem to have a big chubby on for J Davies when Slade had a far better tournament IMO. Welsh bias or rose tinted glasses?

Can't say I'd be quite as picky when it comes to the positions as oj, but for me it's probably hard to justify Nowell ahead of Adams.

May was the best winger overall, but Adams isn't far behind and definitely next in line and ahead of Nowell for the other wing spot.

As for Slade vs JD2 - both were outstanding in very different ways for me. Slade was superb in attack - especially vs Ireland, France and the first half vs Scotland, while JD2 was vital to the Welsh defensive effort that ultimately won the Grandslam.

His leadership of the outside defence and habit of picking the perfect spot tackle played a huge role in winning Wales those big games, which is certainly a justifiable argument for having him in a Team of the Tournament. At the same time I wouldn't say it guarantees him a place those considering the form of Slade, Parkes, Tuilagi etc who all could easily be in there too.

 

[Bill]

Pretty amazing that most teams have 0 or 1 irish players. One of those things where noone would have guessed that at the start of the tournament.

 

[truthteller]

I think you are trying very hard.

I picked Nowell on the right wing as that was his position. Adams played left wing and May was better. End of.

Funny you have a go at me for picking Manu at 13 which is his natural position, yet happily switch your selections into positions they didn't play.

You seem to have a big chubby on for J Davies when Slade had a far better tournament IMO. Welsh bias or rose tinted glasses?

ive got a non sexual chubby for jon foxy too.....the man has lead our backline to 3 x 6 nations, 2 grand slams and ever present in lions victories in australia and draw in new zealand.hes always been a tremendously exciting runner....makes more yards than anyone...admittedly this season hes made fewer breaks simply as wales have played conservatively...but he still scored 1 and was involved in creating 4 in the 6 nations...defenively hes the best 13 in the world and also has a fantastic boot and does ALL the dirty work clears rucks supports runners, does lovely pop passes etc..he also helped scarlets in the league and european semi final in his first season back from clermont.....hes got 15 test tries in a welsh team that doesnt pass the ball to the outside backs and 47 tries in 154 scarlet games. the man is world class

heres a little 3 minute reel to remind us of his genius

 

[TW27BA]

Pretty amazing that most teams have 0 or 1 irish players. One of those things where noone would have guessed that at the start of the tournament.

Even the most ardent Irish supporter would admit not many have lived up to their high standards this tournament. And the ones that have , another player has been superior.

 

[oj121]

I think you are trying very hard.

You seem to have a big chubby on for J Davies when Slade had a far better tournament IMO. Welsh bias or rose tinted glasses?

Nah its just I appreciate the game isnt all about going forward. No point in scoring tries if you cant defend the lead you build. I appreciate the defensive qualities as much as the magic passes as they are equally important and often overlooked as isnt flash or easy on the eyes.

At no point am I saying the Slade or Nowell didnt have a good tournament but they were all go forward and lapses in defence cost points.

If I had rose tinted glasses on I wouldnt argue that Mortiarty should miss out...

I played 6 and 8 so maybe thats why I like the destructive side more. We are all different.

 

[Scotty]

Slade vs davies is a difficult one, bith are very good choices for total opposite reasons.
Very good in attack and decent in defence vs decent in attack and very good in defence.

Argument can go on and on with no right answer.

Also honourable mention to Ringrose who played well in an underperforming ireland team.

 

[Leinster Fan]

Pretty amazing that most teams have 0 or 1 irish players. One of those things where noone would have guessed that at the start of the tournament.

To be fair there's always an element of recency bias with these. Our tournament ended horribly but if things had gone differently (or even happened in a different order) Earls and Ryan wouldn't have been far off. Healy would have been close enough as well until his terrible game against Wales. Realistically though we had a poor tournament.

 

[truthteller]

alun wyn jones player of the tournament , well deserved

 

[bushytop]

Alun Wyn mutha-frikken Jones!

 

[truthteller]

in terms of all time great locks AWJ sits alongside the immortals...John eales willie john mcbryde martin johnson matfield, frik du preez and colin meads

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

in terms of all time great locks AWJ sits alongside the immortals...John eales willie john mcbryde martin johnson matfield, frik du preez and colin meads

Ah he doesn't now, that's silly. Second tier with legends like O'Connell but Mayfield, Johnson constantly stood out in better teams with far more longevity.

 

[truthteller]

Ah he doesn't now, that's silly. Second tier with legends like O'Connell but Mayfield, Johnson constantly stood out in better teams with far more longevity.

awj has played more games than any of them and way more longevity too..The fact hes been in some slightly weaker teams than the 2003 world cup winning team shouldnt go against him, if anything it adds more to his stature....hes won 3 grand slams too, 9 lions caps on 3 tours and 6 nations player of the tournament...hes up there with the best