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Who were the stand out players of this year’s Women's Six Nations?

By Will Owen
CORK, IRELAND: APRIL 1: Deirbhile Nic a Bháird #8 of Ireland reacts behind the posts after conceding a try during the Ireland V France, Women's Six Nations Rugby match at Musgrave Park on April 1st, 2023, in Cork, Ireland. (Photo by Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)

As the curtain comes down on another fantastic Women’s Six Nations, you can’t help but wish there were another couple of rounds. Sure, the final result was inevitable, but the rugby played was so incredibly entertaining that we as fans weren’t ready for it to end so soon.

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Super Saturday saw three record crowds in attendance, which deserves headlines in itself; but in terms of the rugby, what were the stories of this year’s Six Nations to set it apart from the rest?

Scotland bouncing back to win two games on the bounce was nothing short of inspiring; you can’t help but feel delighted for Rachel Malcolm and her team. Wales’ triumph – maybe the gap between them and England and France isn’t closing, but a gap between them and Scotland, Ireland and Italy is certainly starting to open.

And finally, each nation has a multitude of players who have established themselves as top-end internationals. The beauty of the Six Nations is it’s a chance to test yourself against the best. Let’s have a look at a few of the best and biggest breakthrough names and assess their impact:

Ireland – Deirbhile Nic a Bháird
It was a long, hard campaign for the Irish women, for a variety of reasons. Every week you’d witness Nichola Fryday speak brilliantly after a tough loss – only to wonder if there’s more she wishes she could say. Fryday was one player who looked genuinely fantastic in every game, but the true standout was number 8 Deirbhile Nic a Bháird.

Nic a Bháird began the campaign as Ireland’s bench hooker, and in the best way possible, she didn’t take this well.

Against Wales, she was utterly destructive, and played a huge role in frustrating Wales in the second half, with Ireland winning the final quarter. From there, she won the starting 8 jersey and established herself as Ireland’s strongest carrier. Not only is she physically so bulky, but her lines of running are exceptional.

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Against Scotland, she provided her opponents with tough situations through to the final whistle. An arm tackle doesn’t get Nic a Bháird to the floor. She has truly thrived this tournament, and hopefully Ireland will continue to build around her.

Italy – Alyssa D’Inca
Veronica Madia. Vittoria Ostuni Minuzzi. Beatrice Rigoni. What do all of these players have in common? That’s right, they’re absolute heaps of fun. Introducing Alyssa D’Inca, your new favourite Italy back, set to complete the most entertaining backline in world rugby.

D’Inca is fast, agile and unpredictable. She’s basically your dream Barbarians selection out wide. Her ‘Player of the Match’ performance against Ireland was one of the stand-out individual games of the competition. Playing outside Rigoni, Madia and Michela Sillari may look easy from afar, but D’Inca looks to have all the defensive tools to back it up and really establish a starting spot going forward.

France – Marine Ménager
Okay – tell a lie, France’s best player in this Six Nations was obviously Gabrielle Vernier – but we’ve already spoken about her at length. Captain Forlani was also at her world-class best; arguably the most reliable set-piece lock in the women’s game.

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But let’s briefly talk about Vernier’s centre partner, Marine Ménager. Ménager has been a part of France’s backline for seven years now, and has scored countless highlight reel tries. This championship, though, she has reinvented herself. Moving in from wing to centre, she has proven there is more to her game than pure speed, often stepping in as a first receiver. Let’s look at the impact of this:

As France attack from the right-hand edge, Ménager sits in behind France’s initial carrying trio. She remains hidden, so Wales aren’t necessarily considering her as a threat.

As the carry is made, Ménager steps up to the first receiver position. She tells her outside forward group (led by Yllana Brousseau) to get a tad wider so they can run at both Bethan Lewis and Lleucu George in the Welsh midfield. George trusts Lewis to make a one-woman chop, which she does, but it means France’s ball is still lightning fast.

Ménager, Vernier and Gaelle Hermet all flash round the corner, so Wales’ best option is to drift hard and push them towards the touchline. What they’ve forgotten, though, is Ménager’s individual running threat.

Wales’ hard drift defence gives Ménager, still a top-tier winger, a 1v1 with a passive George. Ménager steps inside, and because Brousseau took Lewis out of the game, there is no one on George’s inside to finish Ménager off. She makes a fantastic solo run and offloads to Vernier, who in turn sets up the magnificent Melissande Llorens to score.

Ménager’s awareness to send a carrier at Lewis and take her out of the game is what sets this try up. Her footwork is the icing on the cake.

Scotland – Fran McGhie
Scotland, you have a very special talent in the locker here. 19-year-old Francesca McGhie is exactly what Bryan Easson has been looking for. Her first cap saw her dropped in the deep end against England’s back-three of Abby Dow, Jess Breach and Claudia MacDonald – the best wide trio in world rugby.

And McGhie held her own! She showed she has the capability to be physical, make good defensive reads, show good linespeed and aggression, get high in the line and work extremely hard in attack.

By her second cap against Wales, she was a genuine threat. Many would be fearful of a debut against the Red Roses, but McGhie figured it can only get easier from there. She was magnificent against Italy then capped off the tournament with a sensational solo try against Ireland. What a future that woman has.

How on Earth do you only pick three from her, Coreen Grant, Chloe Rollie and Rhona Lloyd?

Wales – Bethan Lewis
Once again – we’ve already spoken about Wales’ ferocious front-row, so let’s look slightly further back. Bethan Lewis is the human embodiment of what professionalism can do to a player. She has gone from a good technical flanker to a woman possessed.

Wales’ back-row stocks are flying, with Alisha Butchers out injured, Alex Callender on sparkling sledging form, Kate Williams constantly making an impact and Sioned Harries still scoring plenty of tries. Georgia Evans, another contender for Wales’ best player this campaign, also started at 6 against Ireland. That position is absolutely stacked, and yet Lewis feels totally undroppable.

Lewis’ strongest facets include her defensive and breakdown work, but she has also really worked on her ball carrying. Let’s quickly look at a moment that felt like her campaign in microcosm:

Context is important here: Harries has just scored Wales’ third try and Ioan Cunningham’s courageous crew are looking to put the dagger into Italy and score the bonus point try. It’s also Italy’s first ruck with Sofia Stefan on for Sara Barattin at 9.

Stefan goes into the breakdown on the first tackle instead of playing scrum-half. Evans spots a mismatch and immediately counterrucks through the middle. She then twists her angle and knocks the ball loose.

With no scrum-half there to rescue the ball, Bethan Lewis picks it up. She contemplates passing to Keira Bevan, but decides to take responsibility and carry herself. She accelerates into a gap and has two half-tackles on her, so she can carry on pumping the legs.

She makes around 12 metres, and her carry is so dominant that Wales can get quick ball with only Hannah Jones clearing out.

Wales go wide to Courtney Keight, and what’s that? Lewis is already back up to her feet!

This line is the result of spending all day, every day, practicing your timing and simply knowing which spaces are about to open up. She runs an inward line to the space just outside referee Joy Neville.

This line is known as a “flood” – once a team has played to an edge and gotten a dominant carry, it’s common for the defence to honeypot around the breakdown and spaces will often open up a few paces wider.

Lewis almost runs this line too well, as she ends up running into Neville and Wales are awarded a scrum. Lewis’ work rate and efficiency in running this line EIGHT SECONDS after her last carry speak for themselves about what a fantastic asset she is to this Welsh pack.

England – Hannah Botterman
Botterman is a well-established figure in the English front-row – known for her scrummaging and carrying work around the park. This Six Nations, she has cut out the penalties she has copped in past and is now a ruthless operator around the park. To be as physical as Botterman whilst being disciplined is no easy task, but she’s taken to it wonderfully.

Arguably the most improved area of Botterman’s game is her work at the breakdown. Against France, Botterman constantly came up with turnovers in her own 22, and stunted the French attack whenever it began to look effective.

Her choice of which breakdowns to attack is invaluable; and with Marlie Packer and Sadia Kabeya already in the team, how does anyone expect to retain the ball against the Red Roses?

Botterman really attacked the French pack at scrum time and has looked to make that number one jersey her own. She has had healthy competition from MacKenzie Carson, and it has certainly helped the Saracen thrive.

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Jon 4 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 6 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

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A
Adrian 8 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

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T
Trevor 11 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

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