With Round 2 done and dusted following victories for England, France and Wales, let’s take a look at the players who earned a place in the Guinness Six Nations Fantasy Rugby Team of the Week.
After England’s bonus point 33-0 win over Italy on Sunday, it is no surprise to see four of Eddie Jones’ men included, each of whom scored more points than the other 11 top Fantasy performers.
Fly-half Marcus Smith grabbed the headlines with a storming Guinness Six Nations Player of the Match display in Rome and bagged a round-high 130 points, even eclipsing Gabin Villière’s 125.4 score from Round 1.
The 23-year-old Englishman carried the ball 148 metres and broke seven tackles alongside his try and four (out of five) conversions.
Fellow England backs Freddie Steward and Max Malins racked up 83.9 and 64.9 scores respectively, with Steward carrying a whopping 191 metres.
Meanwhile, back row Alex Dombrandt secured 65 points with eight tackles and 128 metres carried.
From the Stadio Olimpico to the Stade de France, where a near perfect kicking exhibition from full-back Melvyn Jaminet helped his team to a crucial victory over Ireland.
His six penalties, one conversion and three tackle breaks were not enough for the full-back to be included in the Team of the Week, however, with tough competition in the form of the aforementioned Steward.
Nevertheless, there was space for France skipper Antoine Dupont – the 2020 Player of the Championship – whose lightning-quick try inside two minutes helped give the scrum-half a strong 55 points.
Guinness Six Nations Player of the match Grégory Alldritt makes the top XV for the second time in as many weeks with the La Rochelle back-rower completing nine tackles and carrying a team-high 56 metres.
Finally, prop Cyril Baille secured a spot in the front row despite only playing 55 minutes, with his second-half try earning him 38.3 points to complete the French contingent in the Fantasy Team of the Week.
From their opponents, Ireland, only try-scoring winger Mack Hansen gets a place, just as he did last week.
He was the sole Irishman to record a dominant tackle and only Hugo Keenan carried the ball further in the match.
Interestingly enough, despite their narrow 20-17 defeat to Wales at the Principality Stadium, there’s still room in the XV for the maximum four Scottish players.
One Scot is represented in each of the forward rows, with prop Pierre Schoeman and second-rower Grant Gilchrist achieving decent scores of 32.5 and 33.1 respectively, largely due to their high tackle and dominant tackle numbers.
2021 Guinness Six Nations Player of the Championship Hamish Watson completes the back row with an impressive 17 tackles and three tackle breaks added to 69 metres carried to give him a score of 49.1.
The final player from Scotland was centre Chris Harris who collected 48.4 points with 100 metres carried and 10 tackles completed.
Their opponents Wales bounced back from defeat to Ireland in the Championship curtain-raiser to deny Scotland winning their first two matches of a Guinness Six Nations – a feat they have still never managed.
There’s a deserved inclusion for Guinness Six Nations Player of the Match Ryan Elias, with his 10 tackles and 66 metres carried almost identical to teammate Will Rowland’s numbers. The Wales second row forward is the third and final player to make this year’s Fantasy Rugby Team of the Week twice.
Finally, 25-year-old Owen Watkin, who started on the bench against Ireland in Round 1, scored the most points of any non-English player in this week’s Fantasy Rugby XV.
He gained 57.4 points thanks to 76 metres carried, 11 tackles completed, four tackles broken and one dominant tackle.
Here’s the Fantasy TOTW for Round 2 (respecting the 4 players maximum per country) :
1. Pierre Schoeman (SCO) – 32.5 pts
2. Ryan Elias (WAL) – 51.7 pts
3. Cyril Baille (FRA) – 38.3 pts
4. Will Rowlands (WAL) – 37.3 pts
5. Grant Gilchrist (SCO) – 33.1 pts
6. Alex Dombrandt (ENG) – 65 pts
7. Gregory Alldritt (FRA) – 53 pts
8. Hamish Watson (SCO) – 49.1 pts
9. Antoine Dupont (FRA) – 55 pts
10. Marcus Smith (ENG) – 130 pts – BEST PLAYER
11. M. Hansen (IRE) – 50,5 pts
12. O. Watkin (WAL) – 57,4 pts
13. C. Harris (SCO) – 48,4 pts
14. M. Malins (ENG) – 64,9 pts
15. F. Steward (ENG) – 83,9 pts
