Monday 23 March 2015 18:56, UK
We take a look at which players shone in which department during the 2015 Six Nations.
It's George Ford who tops the tables after a superb Six Nations from the England pivot. Named this week in Stuart Barnes' team of the tournament alongside second-placed Johnny Sexton, Ford edged out his Irish counterpart in the points department thanks in part to Sexton's absence for his team's game against Italy. Before the competition kicked off there were whispers that Owen Farrell may yet come back into the England fold but when he was injured there was no doubt who would lead England's campaign - and after a successful tournament for the Bath man, it will be even harder for Farrell to stake a claim to the jersey. Leigh Halfpenny would no doubt have been up there if he'd stayed on the field against Italy but after suffering a concussion he was forced to retire from the game. The kick attempts from Dan Biggar after Halfpenny left the field totalled 17 points. Slotting all of them would have given Halfpenny the title in this category.
Jonathan Joseph was another player not guaranteed to start at the beginning of the Six Nations. Stuart Lancaster had long preferred the combination of Brad Barritt and Manu Tuilagi, but with both injured he offered starts to Joseph and Luther Burrell. Joseph in particular shone when called upon and his efforts were rewarded with four tries during the tournament - the most by any player. In fact three of the top five try scorers were English. Wales' George North was one of four players who scored three tries, but they all came in a hat-trick against Italy in the final weekend of competition while of the six scored by Jack Nowell and Ben Youngs, four were scored against France at Twickenham on Saturday. Joseph was the only player in the top five who failed to score a try on Super Saturday.
Big Billy Vunipola, yet another England player with question marks over his performances leading up to the tournament, made more carries in the 2015 Six Nations than any other player. Vunipola began the autumn internationals in the starting No 8 jersey but over the course of the series he lost it to Ben Morgan. In January Morgan was injured, giving Vunipola a clear run with the jersey again, and he made that run with the ball in hand 64 times, with an average gain of 3.61 metres per carry. Scotland's Stuart Hogg was only just behind Vunipola, and England fly-half George Ford came in at third. Rob Kearney and Robbie Henshaw of Ireland both carried impressively throughout the tournament, giving an indication of Ireland's ball-retention capacity over the course of the tournament - four of the top seven ball carriers were wearing green jerseys in this year's showpiece.
Stuart Hogg stole the show in this department with a total gain of almost 100 metres more than any other player over the course of the tournament. A breakaway try against Wales would have helped his cause but even without it he was well clear of the other names in the top five. He also managed an average gain of 7.02 metres per carry. Scott Spedding's second place with 343 metres is that much more impressive in that he played in one less game than Hogg, however even more impressive is that Jack Nowell made it into the top five despite only playing three games during the whole tournament. Mike Brown and Rob Kearney indicate how much counter-attacking was required this year, with both full-backs carrying well in 2015.
Jonny Gray had a superb Six Nations in terms of defence. The Scotland international made 84 tackles across five games this year. Even better, the second rower missed just one tackle throughout the tournament. England's captain Chris Robshaw was only slightly behind Gray, with an effort of 82 tackles, with Billy Vunipola showing he's more than just a ball-carrier with the third highest tackles in the competition to go with the most carries. Francesco Minto of Italy played almost all of the five games, and came away with 74 tackles while Taulupe Faletau rounded up the top five with 71. Robbie Henshaw made the most tackles of all the backs with 63, and Jonathan Joseph was second in that group with 45.
