Another whopping set of games had to be digested, but finally the team of the week is here. As usual there are some obvious ones and maybe a couple surprises.
1 – Cian Healy (Ireland) A massive performance in the scrum and even more so in the loose. Carried like a man possessed and revived his international stature.
2 – Stephen Moore (Australia) Perfect in the set pieces, and a very high work rate around the pitch. Consistently performs at a high level and rarely makes mistakes.
3 – Charlie Faumuina (New Zealand) Battled at the scrum against Healy, but his effort in the loose was phenomenal. Made four tackles consecutively at one point.
4 – Luke Charteris (Wales) Announced his return to the big show with a man-of-the-match performance. Bossed the lineout, made his tackles, and had a huge number of carries.
5 – Jim Hamilton (Scotland) His country’s best by some distance against Australia. Huge presence in the dark arts, a giant in the lineout, and effective with ball in hand.
6 – Alessandro Zanni (Italy) Not the best game to be playing in but he was outstanding yet again. Tackled everything and also carried well.
7 – Sean O’Brien (Ireland) No Irish player deserves victory more than he. Made the hard years and smashed into anything wearing black.
8 – Jamie Heaslip (Ireland) His workrate was immense, particularl his commitment to the tackle. Outplayed the world’s best no8, who didn’t have a bad game either.
9 – Conor Murray (Ireland) Arguably Ireland’s best player on the day. Scored a try, set up another, and did almost everything right in a world class performance.
10 – Aaron Cruden (New Zealand) His poise during the final passage of play was incredible, and that’s not even talking about his game winning conversion. Only Dan Carter ranks higher among flyhalves.
11 – Julian Savea (New Zealand) Another game, another try. Outstanding with ball in hand, he beats defenders almost at will.
12 – Ma’a Nonu (New Zealand) His opposite, Gordon D’Arcy, had a superb first half but the big centre from Wellington took over in the second. Ignoring the late knock-on, he made numerous inroads to get his team back on the front foot.
13 – Ben Smith (New Zealand) Like his centre partner, he was absolutely everywhere in the second half. Made countless meters and a critical component in the lead-up to the final score.
14 – George North (Wales) Outstanding yet again. Always beat the first man either with footwork or the offload, it’s a shame he didn’t get a try.
15 – Israel Folau (Australia) Looked like he was playing on a different level to everyone else. The best part about it is that he makes it look so easy. Superb performance.
