After an epic week of action in Marcoussis, the Men’s U18 Six Nations Festival concluded on Sunday in stunning fashion as France put on a show against Wales to claim the title.
The French have been utterly outstanding in this competition and, given the exploits of their senior side recently, plus having won the last two World Rugby U20 Championships, look as though they have an incredibly bright future at senior level ahead of them.
So too do many countries though, England also went unbeaten, although Scotland and Italy both gave them real scares – scares that should fill both of those sides with plenty of confidence as well, both had some highly promising moments throughout. England’s unbeaten run came with one of the most changed starting XVs of the tournament too, as they sought to give as many players strong gametime as possible.
Ireland were also strong, competing well against France in their opener ahead of strong victories over Wales and Italy. It is Wales, perhaps, who found the going toughest. They failed to win a match and yet even so they have reason to look forward with optimism thanks to some tremendous individual and collective performances and, perhaps even more so, the fact that their opponents were England, France, and Ireland, the top three sides in the competition. No other side had to face that challenge.
Ultimately though, for all six nations, this tournament was about 26 players from each getting to pull on their national shirt and experience that sensation. For some it will simply be a stepping stone on the way to senior caps, while for others this will be the ultimate, the high point in their careers, for all a week of memories that will never be forgotten.
In that context it seems almost ridiculous to try to narrow down those 156 players to just 15 for our Team of the Tournament (or 23 if you include replacements), but that is the challenge we have set ourselves.
Of course though, this is just our opinion, there are a huge number of players not in this side that could so easily be – indeed in earlier drafts they perhaps were! So do get in touch on @NextGenXV on Twitter and Instagram, or in the comments section, to let us know who would have made your side!
NextGenXV U18 Six Nations Festival Team of the Tournament:
15 Ioan Jones (England)
Jones didn’t start matchday 1 for England, but boy did he excel afterwards against Italy and Scotland – in games that his side were finding tough. Ireland’s Ben O’Connor was outstanding against Wales in particular, while in the first game Théo Attissogbe was brilliant for France before injury, and they then changed full back in each game, every time excelling. Jones was our pick of the bunch though, adding real touches of quality with the ball in hand, scoring tries, and looking assured under the high ball.
14 Gabin Rocher (France)
It was a wingers tournament this U18 Six Nations Festival, and France had two of the best. On the right wing Gabin Rocher was outstanding, making our Team of the Round twice and looking superb throughout. Scotland’s Logan Jarvie also impressed on the right particularly, so too England’s Epi Rokodrava, but Rocher was in a class of his own and scored a hat full of tries
13 Louie Hennessey (Wales)
Hennessey could have made our team of the round in all three rounds, he was that good. He may not have tasted victory but he excelled in every single game of the festival and rightly takes his place in this XV. It was strong competition around him too, notably from Italy’s Nicolo Bozzo, who was brilliant every time he pulled on the shirt, Ireland’s Sam Berman, and England’s George Loose, but Hennessey grabbed the attention every time the ball came near him.
12 Luke Kritzinger (Ireland)
Kritzinger really impressed us this tournament, notably in Round 2 when he made our team of the round after a cracking performance against Wales. Throughout the competition he felt like Ireland’s defensive lynchpin, and he had some brilliant moments in attack too. Emilien Trezieres was also genuinely brilliant all tournament, while Finlay Thomson really stood out for Scotland in their game against England.
11 Hoani Bosmorin (France)
We said it was a winger’s tournament and Hoani Bosmorin was probably the pick of the bunch, he’d have to be in order to keep out Ireland’s Hugo McLaughlin, who makes our bench. McLaughlin was absolutely epic, but Bosmorin was perhaps just that pinch even more epic with a hatful of tries, including a hat-trick against Wales and a try of sublime footballing skill against Scotland, whose Amena Caqusau was also fantastic. A tournament for fine wingers, no doubt.
10 Hugo Reus (France)
It says a lot about the quality of this French side that both of their fly halves make our Team of the Tournament, Reus wearing 10 and Tom Raffy on our bench in 22. Reus gets the nod for his sublime balance of the ‘bits and pieces’ of fly half play mixed with moments of outrageous skill and flair. He looked every inch a star of the future throughout his time on the field. So too did Raffy, and it says something for those two to be ahead of the likes of Meredith, Taylor, Townsend, and Murphy.
9 Murdoch Lock (Scotland)
A position of real strength across the board in this year’s Festival, but Murdoch Lock seemed to stand out throughout his time on the field in all three games. He seemed to grow into this Scotland side, become a real lynchpin in the side and a leader too, his influence seemed to grow with each passing minute. It takes him into this side ahead of some stiff competition, not least England’s Ben Douglas, who makes our bench, who was electric – scoring sniping tries in the blink of an eye on more than one occasion. Wales’ Orson James was also stupendous, so too Lucas Zamora of France, who may have had an armchair ride from his beast of a pack, but sure knew how to take advantage of it.
1 Tom Stewart (Ireland)
Loads of options here once again, but Tom Stewart the Leinsterman gets the nod from us in a competitive position for some top performances both in the tight and in the loose. France’s Lino Julien was also impressive, while Ethan Clarke had some big moments for England too, but Stewart excelled throughout.
2 Barnabé Massa (France)
Hooker was problematic – in a good sense. Every county had players that excelled there. Ireland’s Danny Sheahan came closest to wrestling this jersey from Massa, he was outstanding through the tournament and deservedly makes our bench, while Scotland’s Elliot Young and England’s Craig Wright also came incredibly close. Massa made it to the 2 shirt though because of some genuinely terrifying, in the good sense of the word, displays at hooker. In the carry he was utterly ferocious and he was a part of a French set piece that utterly dominated.
3 Zaccharie Affane (France)
That set piece dominance at scrum time was in no small part to tighthead Zaccharie Affane who was as solid as a rock on the right hand side of the scrum for France. Allied to that, he was an absolute menace in the loose, on both sides of the ball, and beast of a carrier and a ferocious tackler who can mix it at the breakdown too. England’s Jimmy Halliwell is desperately unlucky not to be in the 23, but would could deny the cult hero of the tournament, Italy’s Marcos Francesco Gallorini, his place on the bench in this Team of the Tournament.
4 Jonny Green (Wales)
Wales might not have won any games, but it was not for a want of effort from Jonny Green who was absolutely everywhere for the two and a half games that he was on the field. He sense danger like an openside and acts fast to snuff it out, is a nause in the maul, and seems to influence every single breakdown. That’s before we even get into his work in attack, where despite his giant frame come the soft hands of a centre, some of his offload work was outstanding. Euan McVie of Scotland was one of a number of other second rows to impress, including Ireland’s Evan O’Connell (for whom senior caps are surely a matter of time, and who is on our bench), but Green seemed on a level all of his own.
5 Harvey Cuckson (England)
The second lock berth was a toss up between two of England’s top performers in the second row, Luke Coulston and Harvey Cuckson. In all honesty, it could have gone either way. Both played well in round 1, Cuckson was then on absolute fire in round 2, and then in round 3, with Cuckson on the bench, Coulston took over the show against Scotland. Choosing between them was tough, but in the end we just gave Cuckson the nod, his performance against Italy was huge and an absolutely vital difference between England winning and losing that game. Speaking of, Ferrari was absolutely epic for Italy in that game, and throughout.
6 Finn Carnduff (England)
If you thought the rest of the team was hard to pick, wait until you get to the back row. The options were simply outstanding. At blindside we came down to a toss-up between England Finn Carnduff and Scotland’s Liam McConnell, who captained against each other in their final game of the Festival. In the end we went with Carnduff, with McConnell on the bench, both looked every inch like superstars in the making but Carnduff just got the edge in their head to head and had the key turnover at the end against Italy to close out the win for England.
7 Tristan Woodman (England)
Blindside was tough, but the openside was even tougher – England’s Tristan Woodman and France’s Andy Timo were both immense throughout the Festival. So much so that in the end we fudged things and shifted Timo to Number 8 in this side, and that despite the repeated quality of performances from number 8s from all sides over the past week or so. Woodman was so good over the ball that it started to become a matter of when rather than if he would get turnovers in game, and he married it with some huge tackling and even bigger carrying. Just a sublime three games of rugby from the Sale Sharks openside.
8 Andy Timo (France)
Timo shifts to 8 as we find a way to shoehorn him into the side, because he was that good. It is him that we move to 8 because his carrying work was what shone through most, finding himself in the wide channels often with a rangy running style encapsulated best by his tap and go penalty to score a try against Wales in France’s final game. That we found a way to get him into this side tells you everything because every single side had an 8 that performed exceptionally, Arthur Green was superb for England, Morgan Morse for Wales, France Marko Gazzotti was immense, while Jacopo Botturi looks a future Italy international. Up even a level further was Ireland’s Brian Gleeson, while Scotland Tom Currie looked absolutely sensational at times, not least with the ball in hand. In the end though, despite all of their qualities, a space had to be found for the outstanding Timo.
Replacements:
16 Danny Sheahan (Ireland)
17 Lino Julien (France)
18 Marcos Francesco Gallorini (Italy)
19 Evan O’Connell (Ireland)
20 Liam McConnell (Scotland)
21 Ben Douglas (England)
22 Tom Raffy (France)
23 Hugo McLaughlin (Ireland)
There you have it then, our 2022 Men’s U18 Six Nations Festival Team of the Tournament, with six Frenchmen, four Englishmen, two Irish, two Welsh, and a Scot in the starting fifteen, with a further three Irish, two French, and one each from England, Italy, and Scotland on the bench.
Let us know who would have made yours, there are certainly plenty of top class players that could so easily have been in this side!
