We all dream of a…

15. Brian O’Driscoll

Fullback was a competitive area throughout the tournament. Kearney had a good tournament and seems to be getting back to his Lions 2009 form. Hogg had a mixed run of things, the stand out Scottish back for the first few games, top offloader of the tournament (14) followed by a massive brain fart in the final match. Halfpenny remains world-class and Dulin had a solid tournament given the mess that was in front of him.

Mike Brown of England gets a particularly honourable mention for his performances. Brown was joint top try scorer with 4 tries, second only to Jamie Heaslip in terms of carries (65 to 64) and led the stats for metres made (543, phenomenal compared to his closest rival Kearney on 456 and third place Dulin on 373), clean breaks (10, North second on 7) and a superb 25 defenders beaten (with team mate May second on 19). Some tournament. O’Driscoll just shades it though for his mark straddling the 22 against England. Im-pec-cable.

14. Brian O’Driscoll

Brian was run close here by two men, his Ireland colleague Andrew Trimble, born again it seems under Joe Schmidt with 3 tries to his name and French winger Yoann Huget, also on 3 tries. Both men made 6 clean line breaks throughout the tournoi and Huget was second only to Hogg for offloads (13). Brian again wins a close run battle for his run to the line down the right wing against France. He was definitely going to score himself if Dulin wasn’t faster than him and he did brilliantly to cut inside, set up the maul, O’Connell saw what Brian was thinking and eventually Sexton went through unopposed for the tournament winning try. Et voila!

13. Brian O’Driscoll (Vs Italy)

O’Driscoll was pushed hard for this slot by a number of players. Firstly there was Luther Burrell, who looks every bit the modern-day prototype centre. A la Sonny-Bill, the man is serious athlete (6’3” & 104Kgs) and had a sensational debut Championship, scoring 3 tries. He looks the real deal and set to be a permanent fixture in Stuart Lancaster’s team. Secondly there was Brian O’Driscoll versus Wales. Hammered by Scott Williams, who accidentally forgot to wrap the arms, (how did that one work out for you, Scott?) the talisman eventually shrugged off the knock to put in a typically hard-nosed game, full of grit, graft and guile. Thirdly there was O’Driscoll versus France, his crash ball, targeting Bastareaud’s soft shoulder at full pace, got the team in behind the gainline for Murray and Trimble to successfully exploit. His run to support Trimble down the right wing in the second half was a lung-buster and eventually led to Sexton’s second try and all-in-all it was a typically fine performance. However it was O’Driscoll versus Italy which stole the show of this 6 Nations.

His range of passes against the Azzurri was a master-class on how to play rugby football. Not everyone can be built like Tuigamala but no matter what size you are, if you work harder than everyone else, you could one day do what O’Driscoll has repeatedly done throughout his career, namely out-wit your opposition.

The pop-pass for Sexton’s opener was par for the course, no-look, deft and precise. The one-handed-out-the-back-of-the-hand-flick-pass over Orquera’s head whilst Ghiraldini was hanging out of him showed incredible strength and presence of mind. But it was the dummy push-pass for Trimble’s try that was the highlight of the tournament. I had the privilege to be in attendance and I can confirm that the entire stadium bought that dummy, not just Geldenhuys.

Special commendation also goes to Mathieu Bastareaud. Hats off to him for twice making sure his Irish opponents, whom he had just trampled on and/or knocked unconscious, were ok. He finally seems to be getting his priorities right and maturing into a gentleman of the game. As the man said himself: “It’s kind of normal. Even if we have opponents on the pitch, we’re still human. I can’t leave him freaking out when he could be risking the worst. I find that normal.” Bien joué!

12. Brian O’Driscoll

Jamie Roberts, Wesley Fofana and Gordon D’Arcy’s Beard were the main competition for O’Driscoll at 12. Roberts’s lines of running were superb throughout the tournament and when complemented by his speed and bulk he is virtually impossible to stop. Fofana is a joy to watch and himself and Jonathan Davies could be lethal in next year’s Heineken Rugby Champions Top 14 Cup. D’Arcy’s beard pushed BOD hard for dynamism and work-rate but the former Lions Captain just shades it, by a whisker.

11. Brian O’Driscoll

Leonardo Sarto almost wins Player of The 6 Nations for his 14 point intercept try against England and big Georgie North gets a nod too, solid stats throughout (3 tries, 326 metres, 7 clean breaks and 16 defenders beaten) but Waisale had a score on him for top try-scorer for the tournament so he loses major points for that. But again Brian edges it for his score against Australia in the World Cup. Not particularly relevant to the 2014 6 Nations and Ireland may have lost the game but what a finish! Also just look at those locks, and gloves!

10. Brian O’Driscoll

Sexton and Farrell were the two stand out fly-halfs of the tournament, both men attacking pivots through whom their coaches build their play. Orquera and Weir also had reasonable tournaments and both were more comfortable in their International skins than in previous years (see Weir’s match-winning dropper in the 79th minute. Cometh the hour.) However O’Driscoll again just edges the call here primarily due to the stats. Whereas Sexton had a 75% success rate from the boot (not to mention 4 tries) and Farrell an 82.76% success rate, O’Driscoll didn’t miss a single one. Flawless.

9. Brian O’Driscoll

Conor Murray led the passing stats on 340 for the tournament, followed by Danny Care on 306, and both men were world class throughout. Murray was unlucky not to get Man of the Match against France and Care’s vital try against Ireland knocked the stuffing out of the Irish just as they were getting a foothold in the game and kept English hopes alive to the final day but O’Driscoll gets the call here in honour of his all-round passing game.

Special mention to Mike Phillips for getting yellow carded after the final whistle against Ireland. Impressive stuff Mike!

8. Brian O’Driscoll

As mentioned, Jamie Heaslip made the most carries in the tournament (65) and was pushed close by Dave Denton on 61, who was inexplicably subbed off against England at 0-7 down when he was having a blinder and then dropped from the team for the next game against Italy. Scott Johnson obviously keen to keep the Italians guessing as to his “strategy”. Unfortunately Sergio didn’t reach his usual standards and Picamoles had a nightmare against Ireland, albeit playing at blindside. O’Driscoll gets the nod here however for a variety of reasons which are too complicated to go into right now.

7. Brian O’Driscoll

Sam Warburton again showed just what a fine player he is this tournament. It is easy to forget he is only 25. For all the pomposity and guff that his coach may spout, Warburton is a class above, evidently a great leader and the best jackal in the Northern Hemisphere. Chris Robshaw likewise had a fine tournament and is doing a great job leading a young English side who have a real chance at the World Cup in 2015 (unless of course O’Driscoll continues to play, or joins the Irish coaching set-up).

Paul Derbyshire had a decent tournament for Italy but how he was allowed back on the pitch after 5 minutes in “Head-Bin” against Ireland is ridiculous. He could barely walk leaving the pitch and unless “Head-Bin” is either done away with or carried out by an independent doctor who has to sign the player back onto the pitch the IRB will continue to fail in its duty of care to its players, neglecting player welfare and doing potentially irreparable harm to the game at all levels.

O’Driscoll gets the 7 jersey here for his all time 6 Nations record of 53 turnovers won (Big Mal O’Kelly a distant second on 32).

Special mention to Dr. Barry O’Driscoll, Brian’s uncle, who left his position as medical advisor to the IRB last year because of the introduction of “Head-Bin”. If only all the top brass in the IRB would follow his lead.

6. Brian O’Driscoll

Peter O’Mahony, Yannick Nyanga and Dan Lydiate all had good tournaments for different reasons. O’Mahony finished as top turnoverer on 7, Nyanga led for players beaten before picking up a knock and Lydiate’s tackle stats were again preposterously good (66 made, 0 missed!). Brian just edges the trio though for his tackle count throughout (which I’m sure was loads more than the other three combined).

5. Paul O’Connell

Pushed hard by O’Driscoll for the No. 5 jersey, O’Connell gets the shout here for one main reason… That choke tackle against France in the final minute which won Ireland the tournament. Ably assisted by Chris Henry, who had a massive tournament out from under the shadow of Sean O’Brien, hats off, Dev Toner and Iain Henderson, the moral of the story is you don’t run down Paul O’Connell’s channel if you want to keep the ball. Massive. MASSIVE!!!

Oh yeah, and that fella Lawes looks half decent too (34 lineouts won. 34!).

4. Brian O’Driscoll

Geldenhuys was great, top tackler for the tournament on 70, Launchbury was solid throughout and Papé demonstrated his unique style of leadership by bollicking out his team mates whenever he himself threw the ball in to touch or missed a tackle. What’s the French for inspirational?

Brian gets the nod here again though for his rucking good stats. Prior to the French game he had made eighty-two offloads in his 64 games. Eighty-two. The second best offloader in the tournaments history is the big man from Wagga Wagga, Nathan Hines, on 54.

3. Brian O’Driscoll

Mike Ross was many people’s choice for best tight head of the tournament, not bad for an old fella written off as past it last season. Adam Jones was his usual immense self and Martin Castrogiovanni unfortunately broke his rib as well as the record for most Italian caps, 107, against Ireland. O’Driscoll is the obvious choice here though, admittedly more for his work in the loose than in the scrum.

2. Brian O’Driscoll

Ghiraldini worked bloody hard, Szarzewski is a big unit with accurate darts, Best made some big carries and took a lot of responsibility upon himself and Dylan Hartley didn’t get himself sent off so competition for hooker was tight. O’Driscoll takes the jersey here though for his tackling, rucking, mauling, carries, offloads and other non-lineout related hooking duties.

1. Brian O’Driscoll

If only his attempted left-shoulder hit on Dulin in the second half came off. I can’t remember when exactly it happened, or whether it was Dulin or not, there were more than a few looseners on board at that stage, but it was going to be monumental. It was just like when he lined up Danie Roussouw for the Lions. That’s how I remember it anyway.