It was an exciting opening weekend for the Six Nations where Wales, Ireland and England came out on top but who were the star performers of Round One?
RUCK POLL:
Fullback: Leigh Halfpenny (Wales)
Had waited over five years for a Test try and ended up with two in the same Test. Bright in attack and crunched a second-half penalty over to take Wales up 20-0. Flawless place-kicking and 24 points in total.
Winger: Steff Evans (Wales)
Showed his threat with a scintillating early run and looks like he's really growing into international rugby. Gets his hands free in contact. Lovely pass to Halfpenny for his second and added coup de grace with a brilliant bonus-point finish. Teddy Thomas was also good but we couldn't leave this Welshman out of our Six Nations team of the week.
Centre: Scott Williams (Wales)
Welcomed Chris Harris to the Six Nations by frog-marching him back five metres and dumping him on his backside. Seemed to know what the Scots backs would do before they even did it, marshalling Wales’s midfield defence superbly. Also set up Halfpenny’s try.
Centre: Owen Farrell (England)
Kicking a bit skew-whiff early on, missing the conversions to the first two tries, but hit most after those. Two lovely lines – one for his try, one for George Ford’s.
Winger: Anthony Watson (England)
Two superbly taken tries in the first-half. The second, with that extra burst of pace and one-handed finish, was a delight.
Fly-half: Johnny Sexton (Ireland)
The star fly-half kept his nerve at the death to steal Ireland a victory that had already appeared lost.
Scrum-half: Conor Murray (Ireland)
Wasn’t an easy evening with a greasy ball but his passing in the result-affirming move was precision.
Prop: Rob Evans (Wales)
Evans is becoming a fine international prop. As comfortable with ball in hand as he is at scrum time, the man from west Wales is clearly the long-term successor to Gethin Jenkins.
Hooker: Guilhem Guirado (France)
Les Bleus' captain made an incredible 31 tackles. Definitely didn't deserve to be on the losing side.
Prop: Dan Cole (England)
Scrummaged well in both halves and saw off Andrea Lovotti in the first, as well as proving energetic with the ball in the hand. Along with Vunipola, showed skilful hands and contributed to the high-tempo game England tried to play.
Lock: Cory Hill (Wales)
His passing belied the number on his jersey at times, especially when he swivelled to send out the key ball in the move that ended with Halfpenny crossing for the first time. Left the field with an actual HIA.
Lock: James Ryan (Ireland)
Some Six Nations debut from the Leinster youngster, who bossed almost every aspect. Deserves his place in the Six Nations team of the week.
Flanker: Aaron Shingler (Wales)
Shingler has been outstanding in the Scarlets’ European success and this was by far his best game in a Wales jersey. He was a massive physical presence in a dominant back row.
Flanker: Kevin Gourdon (France)
His pack’s best player, he was all action on either side of the breakdown. An unlucky loser.
Number 8: Sam Simmonds (England)
Superb pace for both of his tries, a stupendous draw-and-give pass for Nowell’s score and was everywhere in defence tackling 23 times. The Chief filled Billy Vunipola’s boots well. Best player on the field.
