Winners and Losers

Now the Six Nations has ended - lets review the Winners and Losers:

Top Team: France
Congratulations to France! A well deserved Grand Slam. By far the most entertaining team in a close tournament.

Coach of Tournament: Andy Robinson
To recover and rebuild a team after the heartache in Cardiff and Rome and 6then draw with England and win at Croake Park takes some doing. Even more so given the depleted resources at his disposal. How England could do with him. Robinson may be a soulless miseryguts but he's a great coach and proved it turning the basket case which is Scottish rugby into winners. Well done.

Time to Retire Award: Shared - Martyn Williams and John Hayes
Age is a great humbler and neither player is the player they were. Retire now boys and let the fans remember the good times.

Underachiever Award: Jamie Roberts
A shadow of the player who enthralled us with the Lions. Very disappointing Autumn with the lack of form showing through to the six nations. Desperately over-rated.

Moment of Stupidity Award: Shared Alun Wynne-Jones & Mike Blair
Wynne-Jones for the costing Wales any hope of a win in Twickenham and Mike Blair for that drop out in Cardiff. How they will be haunted.

Give That Man a Medal award: Andy Powell
Buggygate did more to bring rugby back to the masses than the dull stuff on offer in many games. MBE for services to Rugby.

British Player of Tournament: Dan Parks
Written off as an uninspiring has been. Parks was extremely solid - the rock which kept Scotland moving forward. A great signing for next season for my stuttering Cardiff Blues.

Team Rankings:

France - 9/10 - Grand Slam and deservedly so
Ireland - 6/10 - Over-rated and over confident. Great to see them humbled at croaker.
England - 6/10 - Could of been so much more. Need to relax more and allow players to deviate from the script.
Wales - 4/10 - One decent win and a lucky win over Scotland. Abysmal defence and line out. Gatland at risk if Wales get stuffed by Boks and All Chokes in June.
Scotland - 7/10 - Given the injuries and talent pool, a reasonable season. Who would have thought they were 10 minutes from a Triple Crown.
Italy - 5/10 - Offer little but Mallet at least making them competitive.

Hypothetical Lions Squad:
No British Lions Tour this summer but a quick look at the home nations form team:

15 Bryne - marginally gets the nod as Kearney not fully fit.
14 Bowe - very solid again
13 Hook - mercurial figure. Hero to villain in minutes but totally unpredictable.
12 O'Driscoll - No one challenging
11 Shane - Now 33 and getting better with age. A great tournament again
10 Parks - More come backs than Sinatra but very solid.
9 O'Leary - Pick of Home scrum halves by some distance
1 Jacobsen - Caused lots of problems
2 Hartley - controversial perhaps but Flannery doesn't get the call for cynical trip against France
3 Cole - still learning but a great emerging talent
4 O'Connell - Supreme aaginst Wales - the Governor
5 Borthwick - Coach's captain but much maligned and played very solidly
6 Ferris - Ulster's flyer caused problems for every team
8 Beattie - A close call with Easter & Heaslip but gets the nod for his performance vs England
7 Barclay - forward of the Tournament for me

3 Welshmen, 3 Englishmen, 5 Irishmen, 4 Scotsmen - how much has changed in 12 months!