Six Nations: We look at the top individual achievers in Round 3 of the competition

The game billed as the Grand Slam decider was more one-sided than many expected, but do the statistics back that up?

England fell to Ireland in Dublin while Italy shocked Scotland in Edinburgh, and here we take a look at which individuals shone in those games to help achieve those results.

Wales went to Paris and defeated France, much to the dismay of coach Philippe Saint-Andre, who will no doubt be counting the cost of a second defeat in three games with a trip to Twickenham still to come. 

Most points

1: Leigh Halfpenny (15)
T2: Jonathon Sexton (14) 
T2: Greig Laidlaw (14)

Halfpenny rules the kickers this week with five penalties from the tee giving him a total of 15 points. It was a hard-earned victory for Wales over France on Saturday, with just one try coming from fly-half Dan Biggar but fortunately for Warren Gatland's men Halfpenny was timing the ball well enough to prove the difference in Paris. Johnny Sexton and Greg Laidlaw scored an identical set of points with four penalties and one conversion each, but it's not just this week that the two are perfectly matched. Over the course of the first three rounds of competition each kicker has missed just one out of 11 kicks at goal for an overall kick percentage of 91 per cent. Halfpenny, with 14 out of 17 kicks, has an 82 per cent success rate with his boot.

Most carries

1: Alex Goode (19)
T2: Billy Vunipola (14)
T2: Stuart Hogg (14)

Alex Goode was forced to play a lot of rugby over the weekend due to the kicking tactics of Johnny Sexton and Ireland. Goode carried significantly more than any other player over the weekend and the metres he gained with those carries was also the best of all players across the competition in the third round. There was plenty of talk surrounding the inclusion of Goode after Mike Brown was rested as a precaution following a concussion against Italy. Knowing that Sexton's game would be clinical and unforgiving, the pressure on Goode was felt with every high ball. However Sexton (9) only kicked about half as much as Connor Murray (17) on the day, but both kept Goode busy. It was one of Murray's kicks that was placed just over the head of Goode, who could only watch as Robbie Henshaw plucked the ball from the air and dotted down in front of him.

Most metres gained

1: Alex Goode (135)
2: Mark Bennett (97)
3: Brice Dulin (94)

Goode did well to make as many metres as he did, given that he was fielding high balls and being asked to run back at a covering Irish defence. His statistic of four defenders beaten (the most was six) gives an indication of his ability on the day to create opportunities of his own. On the other hand, the statistic he will enjoy the least is the fact that he turned the ball over six times, which is the third-worst in the Six Nations overall despite the fact that he's only played in one of the three opening rounds. Scotland's Mark Bennett was effective with the ball in hand; his 97 metres came from just 10 carries, giving him a very high average of metres gained per carry. Brice Dulin completes the trio with 94 metres from 11 carries.

Most tackles

T1: Jonny Gray (19)
T1: Dave Attwood (19)
2: James Haskell (17)

Jonny Gray continues his impressive defensive record in this year's Six Nations as he made the most tackles over the weekend. Only Chris Robsahw of England (60) has made more tackles than Gray (51) in this season's campaign. England's Dave Atwood made the same number of tackles as Gray and, along with team-mate James Haskell, showed the sheer amount of tackles that England needed to make in Dublin just to remain in the game. Four of the top eight tacklers from the weekend were wearing an England jersey.

Statistics courtesy of Opta