The 2021 Guinness Six Nations kicked off with a bang at the weekend as a trio of fascinating games played out across the continent.
France picked up where they left off last year with an impressive 50-10 triumph over Italy, Scotland ended their Twickenham hoodoo with an 11-6 Calcutta Cup victory over reigning champions England and Wales held off 14-man Ireland for a 21-16 win in Cardiff.
Plenty of individuals put in impressive performances and we’ve selected four men to be in the running for the Guinness Six Nations Player of the Round.
Now it’s up to you, the fans, to decide who earns the gong by voting below. And here’s a reminder of what they did on the opening weekend.
The 2020 Guinness Six Nations Player of the Championship simply picked up where he left off with a sparkling performance to inspire France to a big win in Rome.
You thought his four try assists in last year’s Championship were impressive? How about matching that total in the first game of the 2021 edition…?
He laid on four tries for his teammates and even managed to score one himself when he finished off Teddy Thomas’s scything burst through.
Les Bleus’ creative lynchpin cemented his reputation as perhaps the best scrum-half in the world – if it needed cementing further – and finished the game with eight carries, 81 metres, two tackle breaks and two offloads as Fabien Galthié rested his star man with 20 minutes still to play. Simply mesmerising.
Scotland notched an historic win over England as they recorded their first victory at Twickenham since 1983 to regain the Calcutta Cup in style.
There were so many superb performances in Scottish blue but perhaps no-one outdid captain Stuart Hogg.
His kicking was outstanding and kept England on the back foot, while he marshalled his team throughout.
An impressive 113 metres on 13 carries, with two linebreaks and a remarkable eight broken tackles also show that his open-field running was as dynamic as ever.
A two-time Player of the Championship, Hogg’s legend has only grown and could he be your Player of Round 1?
Any number of Scots could have made the shortlist but the second man in blue to be up for the Player of the Round gong is back-rower Hamish Watson.
He was a relentless diesel engine for 80 minutes, hitting rucks, making tackles and carrying hard as he proved a constant thorn in the side of the Auld Enemy.
Itoje: What happens next is the most important thing
The stats back this up – as he made 52 metres on 13 carries, broke four tackles, made 11 of his own and hit 28 rucks – but he also passed the eye test by dominating collisions and subduing a genuinely world-class England back row.
It was fitting that his turnover sealed a first win at Twickenham for 38 years because the performance that preceded it was immense.
Wales were made to work hard for victory by 14-man Ireland in Cardiff, requiring a second-half comeback to prevail.
But prevail they did and the all-round work of prop Wyn Jones was no small reason why.
Press Conference: Gregor Townsend and Stuart Hogg
Remarkably, he carried more than anyone else on the Wales team – toting the ball 12 times for an impressive 53 metres – while defensively, he didn’t miss a tackle.
His scrummaging helped give his side the upper hand at the set-piece and while playing a position in which a lot of the work often goes unnoticed, you couldn’t miss Jones as he careered round the field hitting rucks and disrupting the breakdown. An accomplished display from the dynamic loosehead.
