Six Nations Team Of Round Four
- 13056
A shortened round of action following the postponement of Ireland's encounter with Italy but the remaining four teams did not disappoint producing two entertaining fixtures this weekend.
There was plenty of talking points this weekend with Les Bleus' winning run halted after Haouas was dismissed for punching Jamie Ritchie in the face in the 37th minute on Sunday while Joe Marler was caught grabbing Jones' crotch.
However, we move onto our team of the weekend from the two fixtures.
15. Henry Slade - England
This really could have gone to any of the four fullbacks this weekend but Slade's ability to slot in pretty seamlessly into the role following Jonny May's injury earns him a place in our team of the week.
Slade's introduction onto the pitch saw Daly shift to the wing and Slade took to the position - one he is not too used playing - well.
He covered the backfield well, kicked superbly and entered the line at the right times on attack.
14. Sean Maitland - Scotland
Damian Penaud touched down from a nice cross kick from Antoine Dupont and regularly tested the defence of Scotland while Anthony Watson was outstanding against Wales.
However, the former Crusader makes our team after his brace against Les Bleus.
Maitland finished off both of his tries superbly, made metres with just about every carry and was solid defensively and under the high ball which sees him edge his competitors this week.
13. Nick Tompkins - Wales
Another close call with Virmi Vakatawa standing out for France, Chris Harris thundering into the French with every carry and tackle and Manu Tuilagi actually having a superb game before his red card.
Tompkins gets our pick after another strong game in the red jersey.
He defended relatively well, carved through the testing English defence making 3 clean breaks and beating 7 defenders and managed to gain 71 running metres just two shy of Dan Biggar's tally in the same game.
12. Owen Farrell - England
A far more straightforward call compared to the previous three spots in our team of the week.
Farrell marshalled his troops around well, was accurate from the tee and combined well with the likes of Ford and Tuilagi.
Sam Johnson certainly deserves a notable mention for his destructive performance against France.
11. Eliot Daly - England
Eddie Jones can really rely on Daly to shift around his backline with relative ease and that is exactly what he did against Wales.
He started at fullback, moved to the wing, scored a try, was excellent in all facets of the game and was just simply solid all departments.
His effectiveness gets him in the side with other left-wingers not having bad nor outstanding games.
10. Dan Biggar - Wales
There were plenty of concerns around Biggar's fitness ahead of the clash against England with head coach Wayne Pivac even making Jarrod Evans and Sam Davies warm up for the clash.
But Biggar managed to power through 80 minutes superbly and even put in an eye catching performance and pulled Wales to a losing bonus point.
He kicked well, contested in the air well, was rocked by a thumping tackle in the opening stages but Biggar was on a mission and got up from every small battle to fight again for his side.
He made more metres than any other player in the clash and did jut enough to edge past Adam Hastings and an excellent George Ford to cement a place in our team of the week.
9. Ben Youngs - England
Youngs rolled back the years and put in arguably his best performance in an England jersey in two years.
His kicking, passing and running game was all excellent and he was rightly awarded the man of the match accolade after the game.
Ali Price certainly had a strong game for Scotland in the win over France while his opposite tried his utmost to avoid defeat for France.
1. Joe Marler - England
Despite his antics, Marler did have a strong game against Wales dominating in the scrum and getting stuck into all facets of the game.
Scotland's Rory Sutherland did get the better of his opposing tighthead but just misses out to the Englishman.
2. Jamie George - England
Again all the hookers this weekend had solid games with Jamie George just marginally better than the rest.
Fraser Brown and Stuart McInally were excellent in open play for Scotland but both had their issues with the lineouts while George was simply accurate enough to beat Ken Owens to place in our side.
3. Zander Fagerson - Scotland
Scotland's scrum was a joy to watch on Sunday and that was largely down to Fagerson getting the better of the excellent scrummager Jefferson Poirot.
The Scotsman was also busy around the pitch, particularly on defence and did enough to beat Kyle Sinckler to place in the side with Englishman enjoying another fine outing for the Red Roses.
4. Maro Itoje - England
Again another Scotsman misses out despite putting in a massive shift with Scott Cummings falling narrowly short to Maro Itoje.
Itoje was all over the park once again, got stuck into rucks, made his tackles and was physically dominant.
5. Grant Gilchrist - Scotland
George Kruis was excellent for England as was Alun Wyn Jones for Wales but the hard work of Gilchrist pays off as he slots into our pack after a busy performance against France.
Scotland were going to have to front up against France and be physical in order to grab a victory and Gilchrist epitomised that effort making all of his attempted 18 tackles.
6. Jamie Ritchie - Scotland
Ritchie was on the wrong end of Mohamed Haouas' punch but the Scottish blindside was excellent throughout.
He tested the French at the breakdown, pilfering over at key times, made some solid hits and was an all round menace in his man of the match performance.
Courtney Lawes also had a great game for England.
7. Justin Tipuric - Wales
While the other openside flankers didn't have bad games this weekend, Justin Tipuric was a cut above the rest.
He scored two excellent tries for Wales, made 11 tackles, 52 running metres, 10 passes and didn't forget about his work at the breakdown.
An all-round brilliant game from the Welshman.
8. Tom Curry - England
Curry seems to improve in the #8 role with each passing game and his performance against Wales was no different.
He piled in on defence making 22 tackles, made a good 40 metres from his 11 carries and didn't miss a single tackle.
He did more than enough to beat Gregory Alldritt to the side with Josh Navidi enjoying a steady game for Wales.
