🏉 Six Nations 2019 | My GW2 Dream Squad!
If you haven't read my GW1 Dream Squad, do that here!
The second weekend of the 2019 Six Nations! We saw England further demonstrating their dominance with a 44-8 pummeling of the French at Twickenham, with the English now very likely to walk away with the Grand Slam this year. Ireland still looked very ordinary and required some poor reffing by Romain Poite to swing the match in their favour against the Scots, eventually out-muscling the latter 22-13. A Wales side with a total of 10 changes to their matchday squad for the France game, beat Italy 26-15 at Stadio Olympico but it was a lot tighter than Gatland would have liked!
Here's my GW2 Dream Squad!
15 | Full-Back - Blair Kinghorn (Scotland)
Most would have picked Ireland's Rob Kearney as their FB for this GW, but I don't think he justifies it; Instead, I've opted for Kinghorn. Scotland suffered a monumental setback early on when Stuart Hogg went off injured (arguably from some pretty serious foulplay that should have seen Peter O'Mahony leave the field), and Blair Kinghorn came on to replace him. Stuart Hogg is probably Scotland's best attacking threat, and to lose him against Ireland is not an easy task - but Kinghorn stepped up incredibly well, making some pretty ridiculous clean breaks and a lot of metres against a very fresh Ireland squad.
14 | Wing - Jonny May (England)
Last week I was praising how well May played, and I think he had one of his best games ever in an England shirt. Would've been a difficult performance to top, but oh no! The Leicester winger produced one of the finest displays I have ever witnessed. He was absolutely ruthless in attack, going over three times before the half-time break had even come; but it's his performance all over the field that gets him a spot in my squad. England have relied very heavily on their kicking and (more importantly) their lethal kick-chasing to get themselves dominance over their opposition, and without May's energy I doubt it would be so effective. His defense has also been second-to-none so far in this Six Nations tournament, notching up quite a few tackles against a very strong Irish and French pack.
13 | Outside Centre - Henry Slade (England)
Not much of a surprise to see Henry Slade back in my squad (I'm a little bit of a fanboy at the moment). Last week I praised Slade a LOT, saying that if he keeps his form up a World Player of the Year nomination will be headed his way; and this week his performance just cemented that. His vision is simply outstanding and to have Farrell at 10 and Slade at 13 is a formidable back-line combination - gone are the days that England fans had to suffer watching a misfiring Ford at 10 and Farrell at 12 (his weakest position). I think Slade is benefiting hugely from having either Ben Te'o or Tuilagi inside of him, I think it really enables Slade's vision to come into play, and we saw that on the weekend with his high kick that led to May's third try. Not to mention that he's actually a very solid unit, and puts a shift in all over the field. Under the high ball he was unstoppable also.
12 | Inside Centre - Sam Johnson (Scotland)
This gameweek doesn't seem it was one for the Inside Centres. Manu Tuilagi was the worst performer out of the entire England side, a fancy basketball pass out to Ashton costing England another try, as well as some pretty shoddy defensive work. Bundee Aki had an even worse game for Ireland, and was very absent in attack; but it's Scotland's Sam Johnson who gets the place again, with Wales' Owen Watkins performance almost taking it off of him. Johnson looks a very promising addition to the Scottish back-line, and I think his past two performances have really cemented him into the 12 shirt. He's excellent at running support lines, and managed to get a try from Finn Russell's break.
11 | Wing - Jacob Stockdale (Ireland)
I don't think Stockdale is going to get the credit he deserves from this weekend, and I'll just go right out and say that if he wasn't playing that Ireland would not have won. He was crucial to every single big moment in the game for the Irish; it was his kick that created the opening try, it was him who went over in the 17th minute from Sexton's sweet pass, he was the one that tidied up a very difficult Finn Russell kick to prevent a very probable try and it was him who dragged Tommy Seymour down to prevent yet another try. The rest of the Ireland team were very, very ordinary and should not have won against the Scots, but Stockdale (with a little bit of assistance from James Ryan) won the game.
10 | Fly-Half - Owen Farrell (England)
Anyone still saying that Sexton is the best Fly-Half in the Northern Hemisphere should definitely re-evaluate. Farrell was tactically on fire against the French, he knew exactly where the space was and his kicks demonstrated that. Penaud had a very, very tough game against a very, very well-performing Farrell. He was incredible ball in-hand as well, making breaks against such a big French side. He's also showing that he has what it takes to be the England Captain for some time to come, Hartley's England days are over; George & Cowan-Dickie are immensely better Hookers and with Farrell as Captain, he's just really not needed!
9 | Scrum-Half - Guglielmo Palazzani (Italy)
The key to the pace that the Italians are bringing to their game. He had an okay game last week against Scotland, but he definitely took a step up this week against a very rotated Welsh side. He orchestrated Italy's play very well, calling for fast offloads from the forwards and distributing very quickly & cleverly. From what we've seen so far, I'd say that the Italians have a very good chance of beating the French at the Stadio Olympico and I think Palazzani will be the player that swings momentum in their favour whenever they need it the most. The Zebre scrum-half looks like a very good asset for Italy at the moment.
8 | Number Eight - Josh Navidi (Wales)
Navidi was one of the few players that Gatland kept in the starting XV for the Italy clash, but he was rotated into a different Number Eight position that he had never yet played whilst in a Wales jersey. He looked very solid, and his defensive game was (as usual) very, very impressive; forcing quite a few turnovers whenever Wales were on the back-foot, which is a vital asset for players in your back-row and moments like that are what wins you games. He also was brilliant carrying the ball forwards, ultimately against the weakest defensive opposition, but it definitely deserves highlighting. The first name on the teamsheet for Wales' next game in a fortnight's time.
7 | Blindside Flanker - Tom Curry (England)
It's clear from his first two England Six Nations starts that the Sale man is an absolute workhorse. It used to be Chris Robshaw that would put his neck on the line at every single opportunity, but now it's Curry - he even got given quite a serious cut to the forehead from an elbow in a tackle that lead to a LOT of blood, and you may have seen some footage of it. He topped England's tackle count this weekend and looks to be a very strong asset for Eddie Jones to have; I'm certainly looking forward to seeing what he can do against the likes of New Zealand (if England end up playing the All Blacks at the World Cup, of course). Curry is also only 20 and it's really quite weird thinking that he's the same age as me, and is in the limelight as one of the best blindside flankers in the world.
6 | Openside Flanker - Mark Wilson (England)
Another very strong performance from Wilson. Brad Shields has absolutely no chance of ever wearing an England shirt again with Wilson's form. Most impressive was how he, even though he's a flanker, contributed to the England kick-chase and made sure England's territory game was relentless. He was also incredible at the breakdown, assisted by Tom Curry, and his desire to put in good performances week in week out is very evident - he semend to be everywhere on Saturday!
5 | Lock - Courtney Lawes (England)
Can Maro Itoje be injured more of the time? In all seriousness though, I think Courtney Lawes should be starting 4 or 5 from now on. Itoje is a lot of hype and loves to give away silly penalties, whilst Kruis really doesn't live up to the level that Lawes reaches almost every game. This weekend Lawes' tackling was at it's very best, putting in massive hits on both Guirado and Bastareaud (very big opposition). He was key in England's very, very solid defense that saw France score just one try that came from an England error.
4 | Lock - James Ryan (Ireland)
Over the past few Irish games, Ryan has showed why he truly is Ireland's most important player. A solid tally of 15 tackles for the commanding lock, and he left his opposite number, Grant Gilchrist, very far behind. As I've already mentioned, James Ryan and Jacob Stockdale were the two top performers for Ireland and ultimately won them the game. He was great in the tight moments where Ireland needed to make some space whilst defending in their 22, etc.
3 | Tighthead Prop - Kyle Sinckler (England)
Embroiled in a little bit of controversy after slapping Arthur Iturria and he is quickly becoming known as the 'bad boy' within the England squad. Ultimately I think he's just a little too enthusiastic and wants it too much, and will often let his emotions come over him. His play, on the other hand, has been phenomenal and I was thinking that Tadhg Furlong would be the Tighthead we'd all be drooling over this year yet again, but it's his English counter-part. Sinckler is showing himself with powerful and dynamic breaks, occasionally breaking the gameline (which is rather impressive for a Prop), solid scrummaging, and great all-round play.
2 | Hooker - Jamie George (England)
I did want a bit of variety in this squad, but Hooker is definitely not the position to get it. Jamie George was very solid on the weekend, and to be honest none of the other Hookers were. McInally came close, but a missed tackle from him lead to one of the Irish tries so he misses out. What impressed me the most from George was his carrying - whenever he got the ball, his first thought is 'I'm going to run as hard as physically possible into whoever is standing in front of me' and he puts in a real hard graft. I also liked his discipline in and around the breakdown, as well as at the scrum when Sinckler was being told off by Nigel Owens.
1 | Loosehead Prop - Mako Vunipola (England)
Didn't get as much game time as some of the other Looseheads after an ankle injury forced him off early in the second-half, but Mako still showed why he is the surpreme Loosehead at the Six Nations. Very, very hard to match up to the likes of Vunipola and no-one even came close to dislodging his position in this squad.
Give me your thoughts below!