The TRU team put together their Autumn Nations Cup XV of round 1, which saw the France v Fiji game cancelled due to COVID-19 complications.
1. Danilo Fischetti (Italy) – The Italian loosehead had a powerful game in the scrum and around the park, showing what a prospect he is on his first cap and at just 22 years old.
2. Jamie George (England) – Scoring a hat-trick on his 50th cap sealed off an impressive display from the England hooker in frustratingly poor weather conditions.
3. Andrew Porter (Ireland) – Ireland’s tighthead had a huge game at the set-piece, taking chunks out of the Welsh front row, winning more than a couple of penalties at the scrum.
4. Charlie Ewels (England) – Bath’s second-row had an industrious performance, proving that his attacking game has evolved when it comes to the tighter exchanges around the ruck.
5. Maro Itoje (England) – Although he played blindside against Georgia, the Saracen had the kind of impressive 80 minutes that we have begun to expect from the 26-year-old.
6. Peter O’Mahony (Ireland) – Throwing his voice and weight around the park… there’s plenty of fight left in the dog yet, surely giving Farrell plenty of back-row selection headaches.
7. Jack Willis (England) – A try on debut for the Wasps’ flanker, turning up in multiple tackle and jackal situations, getting a valuable turnover for England off the back of them.
8. Jake Polledri (Italy) – Unfortunately suffering a serious injury, the powerhouse number 8 displayed just how bruising he can be with ball in hand, hell of a carrier!
9. Jamison Gibson-Park (Ireland) – His first start in an Irish jersey, the nippy scrum-half controlled the tempo of the game well, and was involved with a lot of attacking moves throughout.
10. Duncan Weir (Scotland) – Getting back in the Scotland side after over 4 and a half years, the man with the ‘do’ had a superb game and was unlucky not to get a try later on.
11. Duhan Van Der Merwe (Scotland) – Scoring his try coming off his wing which added to his 143 metres made…. just some of the reasons that resulted in a man of the match performance.
12. Robbie Henshaw (Ireland) – Kept the Welsh centres very quite throughout the game, he constantly put his hand up for hard runs into red jerseys and tackling big ball carriers.
13. Chris Harris (Scotland) – The Italians were intent on playing with width and playing a lot of running rugby, the Scottish centre halted the majority of those efforts and attacked well too.
14. James Lowe (Ireland) – Another try-scoring debutant, Lowe brought his club form to the international stage and proved too much for the Welsh defence on several occasions.
15. Matteo Minozzi (Italy) – The little fullback was busy all day in defence and attack, displaying his quality and scored an impressive try keeping Italian hopes alive.
