1 – Nicky Smith (Ospreys)
Smith was part of the Welsh front row that took Saracens to the cleaners, he also contributed to 13 tackles with none missed. Outstanding nitty-gritty stuff from the Welshman.
2 – Sean Cronin (Leinster)
Cronin was very good on Saturday for high-flying Leinster, immaculate in his lineout throwing and set-piece work and also scored a try of his own off the back of a rolling maul.
3 – Dimitri Airhip (Ospreys)
The Moldovan tighthead was very dominant in the scrum, causing Vunipola to buckle under pressure to gain precious penalties for the Ospreys and therefore crucial in the closely-fought draw at the Liberty stadium.
4 – Tadgh Beirne (Scarlets)
A lovely pickup followed by an outrageous sidestep on Anthony Watson resulted in one of the tries of the season by the Irish lock.
5 – Api Ratuniyarawa (Northampton)
The man mountain as he’s known by the Saints fans got Northampton a lot of front foot ball and made a superb break in the lead up to Teimana Harrison’s try.
6 – Scott Fardy (Leinster)
The veteran Wallaby bagged his first two tries for his new provincial club in an impressive performance, being ever-present in the loose as Leinster thrashed Glasgow.
7 – James Chisholm (Harlequins)
Man-of-the-match in Harlequins’ 1st win in the Cup, worked really hard for every meter he gathered and then brushed aside his defender to score the match-winning try.
8 – Sam Simmonds (Exeter)
Simmonds was at the core of Chiefs’ devastating pick-and-go game, making a powerful break in midfield and also bagging a try from close-range.
9 – Maxime Machenaud (Racing)
A calm and assured performance from the Frenchman, who knocked over 19 points from the tee to secure the game for Racing.
10 – Jonny Sexton (Leinster)
Despite only being on the field for 50 minutes, Sexton was able to orchestrate his side’s hammering of Glasgow as well as scoring a try, setting up another and also contributing in defence with not a single tackle missed.
11 – Olly Woodburn (Exeter)
Woodburn produced two outstanding finishes, particularly his second, to bag the Chiefs a bonus-point win and get a deserved man-of-the-match award.
12 – Hadleigh Parkes (Scarlets)
Parkes has hit the ground running just before the Six Nations, running a great support line to score his first try, set up another and made a huge 138 metres during the game.
13 – Thomas Combezou (Castres)
The Castres centre was very elusive on Sunday evening, running an excellent support line to score his 1st try and snuck the ball from his number 8 to score his 2nd underneath the posts.
14 – Josua Tuiosva (Toulon)
Tuisova showed immense power and speed to fend off his opponents and score a great try, and again bounced off a defender and produced a lovely finish to score his second in the corner.
15 – Ben Foden (Northampton)
The former England international’s best game in a long while and was absolutely brilliant in his man-of-the-match performance where he scored a brilliant individual try from his own half.
By Jacob Bassford
Foden hada fantastic game but he plays on the wing these days to accommodate Tuala/Mallinder at full back
I know Leon he is a winger these days but there were two already really good wingers there so I put him at fullback
I thought Armand and C-D were tremendous for Exeter in a game that really mattered and showed the strength of character throughout their squad. Wayne Barnes gave La Rochelle nothing all day and changed the whole momentum of the game with his ludicrous yellow card for Jourdain. He had made no attempt to interfere with the catching player and was hit head high by a man jumping straight through him. Where the hell was he supposed to go? Not usually a Stuart Barnes fan but a really good article in the Sunday Times this week on why the new breakdown laws are not working and are increasing the incidence of shoulder charges to the head. Why are nearly all refs ignoring the requirement for those arriving after the tackler to stay on their feet?
Agree with you re the high ball, Jourdain just stood his ground. Either he moves, thus giving way to an opponent who can then attack, or he gets sin-binned.
Likewise there is so much sealing off/tackler not releasing/not rolling away that its almost detrimental to take it into contact. Not enough being done by officials to penalise those slowing the ball down.