The dust is starting to settle on a day that we'll be recalling for years to come and we now have to sift through reams and reams of 'Teams of the Tournament', not that we're complaining of course.
Like it or not, it's interesting to see how certain individuals try and fit the best players into a team. But at the end of the day, that's all it is. Certain individuals give their opinion and we either agree or disagree. There's going to be some consensus and some differences but it's difficult to say who is right and who is wrong, even if you don't agree with Stephen Jones.
However, what if you take the opinion out of it and leave it to statistics. Well that's what the Six Nations technology partner Accenture have done with their official Six Nations Team of the Tournament and it makes for interesting viewing.
See below for the team in detail
Lawrence Dallaglio and Ugo Monye unveil the Accenture Team of the Six Nations, with the data provided by Opta. http://t.co/uEqpANoho7
— Rugby Tonight (@RugbyTonight) March 23, 2015
According to Accenture, the team is based purely on "statistical performance across different action categories that cover all aspects of the game."
The algorithm combines weighted values for every action - positive scores for metres gained, passes and so on, negative for poor handling or a missed tackle - and calculates an overall score. This analysis is carried in near real-time, typically running around a minute behind the on-pitch action.
Here's the team that the algorithm came up with, including the second and third best players in each position.
#15
1. Stuart Hogg (Scotland)
2. Rob Kearney (Ireland)
3. Scott Spedding (France)
#14
1. Tommy Bowe (Ireland)
2. Yohann Huget (France)
3. Anthony Watson (England)
#13
1. Jonathan Joseph (England)
2. Jared Payne (Ireland)
3. Jonathan Davies (Wales)
#12
1. Robbie Henshaw (Ireland)
2. Jamie Roberts (Wales)
3. Alex Dunbar (Scotland)
#11
1. Jack Nowell (England)
2. Liam Williams (Wales)
3. Noa Makaitaci (France)
#10
1. George Ford (England)
2. Dan Biggar (Wales)
3. Finn Russell (Scotland)
#9
1. Conor Murray (Ireland)
2. Rhys Webb (Wales)
3. Greig Laidlaw (Scotland)
#1
1. Alasdair Dickinson (Scotland)
2. Jack McGrath (Ireland)
3. Joe Marler (England)
#2
1. Leonardo Ghiraldini (Italy)
2. Guilhem Guirado (France)
3. Ross Ford (Scotland)
#3
1. Dan Cole (England)
2. Martin Castrogiovanni (Italy)
3. Mike Ross (Ireland)
#4
1. Luke Charteris (Wales)
2. George Biagi (Italy)
3. Dave Atwood (England)
#5
1. Jonny Gray (Scotland)
2. Alun Wyn Jones (Wales)
3. Paul O'Connell (Ireland)
#6
1. Peter O’Mahony (Ireland)
2. James Haskell (England)
3. Thierry Dusautoir (France)
#7
1. Chris Robshaw (England)
2. Sam Warburton (Wales)
3. Bernard Le Roux (France)
#8
1. Billy Vunipola (England)
2. Sergio Parisse (Italy)
3. Taulupe Faletau (Wales)
The fact that Johnny Sexton and Jamie Heaslip both missed games have contributed to their absence but apart from that you'd have to think that Joe Schmidt would look upon this list with quite a bit of pride. As Rob Kearney stated a couple of weeks ago, Schmidt's players don't necessarily aim for the overtly impressive performances.
It's all about doing the right things at the right time as a team and these rankings seem to show that they were doing exactly that. The fact that Kearney, Bowe, Payne and Henshaw all feature prominently must be seen as a particular positive for the Ireland coach.
See also: The Definitive Six Nations Team Of The Tournament According To International Media
See also: The Easofen Six Nations Team Of The Tournament
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