Four players have been nominated for the official Guinness Six Nations Player of the Round after an entertaining opening weekend of rugby.
It was a round for the favourites, with each favourite side winning in front of their home fans.
On Friday evening, France beat an underwhelming Wales in Paris in a one-sided affair in which Wales failed to score. France were dominant throughout. In fact, after just 50 minutes, they felt comfortable enough to take off their talismanic leader Antoine Dupont.
Scotland kicked off their campaign on Saturday with a well-worked victory over a stubborn Italian side who have their own aspirations this season. The match remained tight until the final quarter when Scotland scored two late tries through Huw Jones to win.
In the final match of the weekend, Ireland hosted England at the Aviva Stadium in another tight contest that saw the home side hold on to victory.
Four players stood out for their respective countries this weekend, all being nominated for the Guinness Six Nations Player of the Round, Those players are: Gregory Aldritt, the French number eight; Hugh Jones, hat-trick hero in the Scotland midfield; Tom Curry, England flanker; and Jamison Gibson-Park, Ireland’s number nine.
Grégory Alldritt
Alldritt was a standout performer in France’s 43-0 opening-round victory over Wales last weekend, topping the charts in carries (18), metres carried (90) and successful tackles (19), as well as crossing for France’s last try of the match in the 78th minute.
Huw Jones
Saturday was a day that Scotland centre Jones won’t forget anytime soon, with his hat-trick helping to seal Scotland’s victory over the Azzurri and get their Championship off to the perfect start.
Tom Curry
Curry carried seven times while putting in a defensive shift with 11 successful tackles and one dominant hit. He was also a menace at the breakdown, stealing possession on several occasions and even getting on the scoresheet towards the end of the match.
Jamison Gibson-Park
As well as scoring his team’s first try in a significant moment just before an otherwise scoreless first half for Ireland, Gibson-Park was an all-round force for the home side, his pace, defence and kicking game very much to the fore.
At the time of writing – Grégory Alldritt was top of the awards chart with 47% of the vote.
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