Rugby World Cup 2023 Team of the Week: Three England stars
Rugby NewsSunday, 10 September 2023 at 22:58
Our first Rugby World Cup 2023 Team of the Week is here with three England stars included after their win against Argentina.
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Rugby World Cup 2023 Team of the Week:
BACK-THREE:
15. Ben Donaldson (Australia)
Planet Rugby 8/10: "Man-of-the-match in his first start for the Wallabies this year. Took over the kicking duties from Carter, missed his first conversion but nailed his next from out wide and a few more penalties. At the back was solid, cleaned up a Georgian grubber in the in-goal that saved the Wallabies from conceding. Scored a breakaway try after an intercept by Taniela Tupou after a moment of Georgian madness and then hit a line into space to score his second. A massive 25-point haul."
Sydney Morning Herald 9/10: "The critics were completely silenced by an outstanding performance. He was responsible for 25 points, scoring two tries and hitting six out of seven of his kicks from the tee. Normally seen in the 10 jersey, he will be difficult to shift from 15 now. The Wallabies were desperate for a reliable goalkicker, they have now got that in Donaldson and so much more. Deserved player of the match."
Honourable mention: Hugo Keenan (Ireland), Damian Willemse (South Africa)
14. Damien Penaud (France)
Rugby Pass 8/10: "He did end up scoring eventually, following on from scoring against New Zealand when they beat them 40-25 in 2021. He has now scored in his last five Tests, with nine for the year."
Planet Rugby 8/10: "Really came into the game in the second period after a quiet first half. Constantly dangerous when he got the ball and was rewarded with a try."
11. Louis Rees-Zammit (Wales)
Honourable mentions: Mark Nawaqanitawase (Australia), Ange Capuozzo (Italy), Cheslin Kolbe (South Africa), Kurt-Lee Arendse (South Africa)
CENTRES:
13 Waisea Nayacalevu (Fiji)
Planet Rugby 8/10: "Regularly pushing his claim as the best outside centre in the world, if he isn’t carrying the tag already. He scored his opening try, scoring a blinder off a terrible pass. A mix of great and poor reads defensively, but more of the former than the latter."
Honourable mention: Jordan Petaia (Australia), George North (Wales)
12. Bundee Aki (Ireland)
RTE 8/10: "Best player on display and a constant threat with ball in hand as he carried over the gainline 12 times and made three offloads. Took his two tries well and didn’t tire over a full shift in 35C heat."
Belfast Telegraph 9/10: "Pinged for offside that allowed a Romanian penalty but other than that was superb. So prominent in the early stages, he always looked likely to break the first tackle and deserved his score."
JOE 8/10: "Looked really good for Ireland. Scored a nice try and could have had a hat-trick if a couple of passes stuck. Teed up a couple of tries with nice bursts and passes. Rammed through for a late try as Romania flagged in the baking sun. Ended up gaining 172 metres off his carries."
Honourable mention: Manu Tuilagi (England), Nick Tompkins (Wales)
HALFBACKS:
10. George Ford (England)
Mail Online 9/10: "Rediscovered the art of the drop goal, with England under the cosh. Great rugby brain and got his side ticking."
Telegraph 9/10: "Ford’s remarkable long-range drop goals and calm performance kept 14-man England in the contest when they needed him most. A performance he will be remembered for."
Honourable mentions: Matthieu Jalibert (France), Johnny Sexton (Ireland), Manie Libbok (South Africa), Dan Biggar (Wales)
9. Antoine Dupont (France)
Planet Rugby 8/10: "The whole Stade de France was stunned when he actually made a mistake, while Aaron Smith did his best to put him under pressure – with some success – but he was otherwise flawless. "
Honourable mentions: Conor Murray (Ireland), Alex Mitchell (England), Fad de Klerk (South Africa)
FRONT-ROW:
1. Andrew Porter (Ireland)
Belfast Telegraph 8/10: "Performed all the nuts and bolts elements in what was a strong showing from the Irish scrum but there was little doubt that his most eye-catching involvement came with an out the back door offload in the build-up to Aki's score."
2. Jamie George (England)
Mail Online 8/10: "England’s go-to set-piece man and heart of the team. Dependable and Steve Borthwick will be praying he stays fit."
RUCK 8/10: "If he wasn’t already, the hooker should be regarded as England’s greatest number 2 of all-time."
3. Taniela Tupou (Australia)
Sydney Moring Herald 8/10: "It was his 50th game for the Wallabies and what a performance it was. He was everywhere, playing scrum half at the breakdown, scrummaging beautifully and shovelling an audacious offload to Ben Donaldson that came straight from an NBA playbook. He even worked as a referee’s assistant with an honest confession that he hadn’t scored in an attempted drive to the line. The Wallabies badly missed him during his long layoff from a ruptured Achilles and are a far better team with him in it."
Honourable mention: Dan Cole (England)
SECOND-ROW:
4. Franco Mostert (South Africa)
Rugby Pass 8/10: "The highest tackling South African with 11 hits made. He was a constant disruptor of the Scottish line-out and was ever present at the ruck. A solid game from a man in top form."
The Telegraph 8/10: "An important cog for the champions. Charged down Russell immediately and latched on to shunt over Du Toit."
The South African 8/10: "A workhorse if ever there was one. Mostert just toiled away as he usually does without setting a foot wrong."
5. Will Rowlands (Wales)
Wales Online 8/10: "An outstanding defensive performance. Showed his intent right from the start as he won an early penalty and thwarted Fiji time and time again as he made an astonishing 24 tackles over the course of the game. Made a key intervention as he forced Botia into spilling the ball as he bore down on the line. Huge shift."
Honourable mentions: Maro Itoje (England), Scott Barrett (New Zealand), Joe McCarthy (Ireland), Amato Fakatava (Japan)
BACK-ROW:
6. Courtney Lawes (England)
RUCK 9/10: "Captain fantastic, Lawes never lets England down."
Rugby Pass 10/10: "It could have all gone south for England with their ropey red card start but Lawes was kryptonite to Argentina when leading by example in the game-deciding opening stanza. His two turnover penalty wins, especially the one that had Julian Montoya penalised with Argentina attacking off a tapped penalty near the line, were massive momentum swings."
Honourable mentions: Francois Cros (France), Michael Leitch (Japan), Tadhg Beirne (Ireland), Siya Kolisi (South Africa)
7. Pieter-Steph du Toit (South Africa)
Rugby Pass 9/10: "Sensational. The best player in the world when he plays like that. Tackled anything that moved and harassed Scotland’s backline to the point that it looked like a shadow of itself. Brilliant. Do that six more times and the Boks will have a serious shot at another World Cup."
Planet Rugby 8/10: "Showed why he was the World Rugby Player of the Year in 2019 as he made his mark with an industrious performance."
Honourable mentions: Peter O'Mahony (Ireland)
8. Gregory Alldritt (France)
Planet Rugby 9/10: "An immense effort of carrying, tackling and breakdown excellence. He is some player."
Rugby Pass 9/10: "An immense performance from the standout player on the park, Alldritt worked hard throughout with multiple strong carries, a brilliant turnover and in general he showed why he’s started eight of nine of France’s latest games."
Honourable mention: Ben Earl (England), Viliame Mata (Fiji)
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