Bundee Aki was a ball-carrier extraordinaire against Wales, testing the red wall again and again, and often breaking through. The centre’s pivotal role in the team has only increased following the retirement of Johnny Sexton, and here he was leading the charge in a bonus-point win in Dublin.
Wing Duhan van der Merwe further cemented his status as Calcutta Cup poster boy with a phenomenal hat-trick in Edinburgh - the first player to achieve this feat against England since 2014 - as Scotland triumphed, making it four wins from the last four against the Auld Enemy.
So electric and dangerous with the ball in hand in the agonising draw with France, it’s easy to forget that wing Tommaso Menoncello is only 21 years old. And yet, if the youngster - often deployed at centre - carries on in this vein of form, he’ll be a leading light for Italian rugby for many years to come.
Fly-half Jack Crowley has stepped into the breach of a post-Sexton world with admirable confidence, and his performances thus far have justified it. He was a cool, calming presence for Ireland when Wales showed forced an occasional moment of pressure in Dublin.
