The good and the bad from the Six Nations: Best player, breakout star and most ridiculous moment
MCCLOSKEY TO SUCCESS: Stuart McCloskey with his son Arlo and the Triple Crown trophy. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
French wing Louis Bielle-Biarrey, whose four tries at Stade de France set the stage for Thomas Ramos to kick his team to title glory.
The Bordeaux star, still only 22, had an outstanding campaign, topping the try-scoring charts with nine and continuing his try-per-game streak to a 10th consecutive Six Nations match. Phenomenal.
Theo Attisogbe may have played second fiddle to his fellow France wing Bielle-Biarrey but the Pau flyer, a year younger than the Bordeaux man at 21, contributed five tries to the title-winning cause as well as matching Antoine Dupont and Emanuel Meafou for offloads with six.
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A difficult one to gauge given only two, Karl Dickson and Nika Amashukeli, took charge of more than one game but plaudits to Scotland’s Hollie Davidson for becoming the first female official to take control of a men’s Six Nations fixture when she took the whistle for Ireland v Italy in round two.
Absolutely. Using 35 players has broadened experience in so many positions and deepened his squad’s preparedness for the World Cup.
He unleashed two genuine speedsters in wings Rob Baloucoune and Tommy O’Brien, has discovered a prop in Tom O’Toole who is comfortable on both sides of the scrum and also seen Jack Crowley blossom at fly-half after a much-needed run at number 10. So many boxes ticked.
Stuart McCloskey, hands down. And what hands. For all his power, the inside centre has a wide array of passing and offloading skills that produced a team-high six try assists.
McCloskey also led Ireland’s charts for offloads (8), defenders beaten (20), dominant contacts (18), post-contact metres (105) and tied Tadhg Beirne with eight turnovers each.
Aside from the aforementioned Baloucoune, Crowley, McCloskey and O’Brien, Jamie Osborne’s emergence as a potential full-back in the absence of the injured Hugo Keenan is a big bonus for Andy Farrell.
Osborne’s best position is probably at centre but his eye for a try brings an added dimension to the 15 jersey.
As good as the atmosphere was at the Aviva last Saturday, the failure by Ireland supporters to take their seats before their team runs out is a regular irritant.
Every other stadium in the Six Nations is bouncing long before the players take to the field, yet Ireland emerge to banks of empty seats in every section of the ground.
Referee Luke Pearce, heard over the RefLink microphone, admitting to an unknown techie that he had left his whistle in his tracksuit pocket.
That this discovery was made after the national anthems and moments before kick-off between Ireland and Scotland at Aviva Stadium only heightened the match official’s anxiety.
Thomas Ramos (France); Rob Baloucoune (Ireland), Tommaso Menoncello (Italy), Stuart McCloskey (Ireland), Louis Bielle-Biarrey (France); Mathieu Jalibert (France), Jamison Gibson-Park (Ireland); Danilo Fischetti (Italy), Giacomo Nictoera (Italy), Simone Ferrari (Italy); Mickael Guillard (France), Tadhg Beirne (Ireland); Charles Ollivon (France), Caelan Doris (Ireland), Lorenzo Cannone (Italy).
Hard not to plump for Stuart McCloskey here but Louis Bielle-Biarrey scored nine tries, including four on the last day. Jacob Stockdale got this honour in 2018 for scoring one less. The Bordeaux wing claimed a score in every one of the five rounds for a second year in a row. A try-scoring machine.
It really does have to be 28-year old Robert Baloucoune. The Ulster wing hadn’t earned a cap since November of 2022 before this tournament and he has been sensational. Three tries were just the start of it. A player whose speed, athleticism, game intelligence and defensive prowess add massively to the team.
There were 13 used across this year’s tournament, including Hollie Davidson who was the first woman to take the whistle. Only two officiated more than once with Karl Dickson taking France-Ireland and Ireland-Wales and Nika Amashukeli in charge of Scotland-England and France-England. Luke Pearce was excellent in the Aviva last Saturday.
Huge, with 35 players used and eleven of them playing Six Nations for the first time. He has a brand new back three, McCloskey and Baloucoune have added a new dimension and a freshness, Tom O’Toole could be invaluable across the front row come the World Cup... The list goes on.
It has to be McCloskey, the ‘Irish Fridge’, whose six try assists were only the tip of the iceberg. Baloucoune was immense as well and there were others in Tadhg Beirne, James Ryan, Jamison Gibson-Park and Caelan Doris. Apologies to those omitted.
Tom O’Toole. The Ulster tighthead wasn’t even in the squad in November but the loosehead injury crisis allowed Andy Farrell to go with his long-held idea of using him on the loosehead side. He grabbed it with both hands. The sort of guy worth his weight in gold at a World Cup.
Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Worries over rugby going to hell in a hand cart were rife before it all started but the dreaded box kick became less of a staple as it went on. So much of the rugby was just top class. France starred, Ireland looked reborn by the end, Scotland did their bit, Italy were class at times and Welsh improvement finally delivered a win. Even England turned up in Paris. What’s not to like?
That jersey clash in Saint-Denis last weekend. And England’s fans mock-cheering George Ford for finding touch with a penalty kick after he’d missed two easy efforts earlier in the game against Ireland. It was tough on Ford, who has given such sterling service, but all too symbolic of how a side that won 12 in a row was disintegrating in front of our eyes.
T Ramos (France); R Baloucoune (Ireland), H Jones (Scotland), S McCloskey (Ireland), L Bielle-Biarrey (France); F Russell (Scotland), A Dupont (France); D Fischetti (Italy), J Marchand (France), S Ferrari (Italy); C Ollivon (France), T Beirne (Ireland); A Wainwright (Wales), C Doris (Ireland), L Cannone (Italy).
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