Six plays that defined the Six Nations

More tries were scored in 15 matches at this year’s Six Nations than any other championship.

Attacks continue to find a way to score despite more sophisticated defenses, replacements replenishing teams’ energy levels, and a defense-friendly law change involving players held up over the line.

The small details have been the focus of Ireland’s superpower, which Joe Schmidt nurtured and Andy Farrell improved.

Pre-planned plays that are intricate play blizzard defenses with runners in hand, and players who are using a cardsharp’s speed and dexterity shift the ball.

The perfect example was the first-round play that broke English resistance.

Lowe swerved past a agitated Chandler Cunningham-South as Jamieson Gibson-Park picked up and left the base.

Now the question is whether those seasoned patterns and thorough understanding are sufficient.

Their plans were shattered by relentless forward power, creative improvisation, and warp speed out wide when they faced France in round four.

As Farrell replaces him during the Lions’ secondment, interim head coach Simon Easterby may, it is understandable, still having trouble finding his feet.

Maybe Jacques Nienaber, the former head coach of South Africa, helped Leinster change their style.

Changes are required over the coming years due to their team’s ageing spine.

England desperately needed something, and with less than a minute left to play at Twickenham and a rookie Fin Smith at fly-half, England was six points adrift of France.

After falling to Ireland on the opening day, a second defeat would put them in the middle of nowhere, extend their losing streak to top-tier opponents by seven games, and put more pressure on coach Steve Borthwick.

They discovered something.

After considering a blindside dart off a rolling maul, Wing Elliot Daly arced backwards in England.

Yoram Moefana and Pierre-Louis Barassi were replaced by Ollie Lawrence and Tommy Freeman in France.

Smith was working as the ball came to him, but he did it flawlessly by halting Smith’s pass for a short while to give Daly time to hit the hole flat and fully tilted.

It was a flawless first-phase strike move that was flawlessly executed by snipers.

During the championship, there were a few moments that made everyone think about French scrum-half Antoine Dupont’s fallibility.

He kicked the Stade de France stands straight after Wales. He juggled and dropped a relatively easy pass while watching England.

We were reminded of his mortality by the knee ligament injury he sustained against Ireland that Beirne incurred when he buckled under Beirne’s weight.

However, there were plenty of times where he had greatness, things that, despite deputy Maxime Lucu’s territorial kicking and speed of pass, were lost to France in his absence.

They gain another dimension thanks to Dupont’s use of the kick-pass to obstruct a defense that has been pinched in tight against France’s strength.

After France’s heavy brigade had fought a tenacious Wales defense for 12 phases, Dupont picked up the ball and dawdled sideways and backwards off the back of the breakdown in France’s opening match.

That is a cardinal sin, in the opinion of the majority of coaches. However, it attracted the Welsh defense forwards, and Josh Adams was unable to stop Theo Attissogbe from gathering and scoring the first of 30 French tries of the tournament when Dupont chipped to the far wing.

France were even using the tactic in defense in Dupont’s absence, with Louis Bielle-Biarrey kicking wide to Damian Penaud’s right during an audacious exit from Ireland.

Scotland finished fourth in the final table, but they would have won the top spot if backline scores had been given out.

They threw the most passes and carried the ball farther than any other team.

Sione Tuipulotu’s injury may have forced them to play with more width than they had anticipated, but it resulted in some stunning scores.

Their second try in the win over Wales probably gave the best example of what they can do from deep.

Tom Jordan intercepted the pass and scored in the middle of the field.

Although Ireland may have finished third, the Six Nations card’s headlining heavyweight fight featured France in round four.

France’s victory is a result of many important structural factors, including a successful youth development system that draws in players from a variety of backgrounds and skill sets, their elite clubs falling behind the national team, and coach Fabien Galthie’s decision to introduce a forward-heavy replacement bench.

However, you also need instinct, which is the ability to anticipate a situation and act upon it in a millisecond.

Full-back Thomas Ramos did just that as Ireland, 35-13 down, but a man up, pressed up the France 5m line late on.

On his interception, he ran upfield and threw the ball to Damien Penaud, who finished under the sticks.

It wasn’t a run-ahead move, like the one England captain Maro Itoje made repeatedly during this year’s Six Nations: a slow, almost apologetic advance on the referee to ask a question.

Ronan Kelleher crossed for the hosts in Dublin when they faced Ireland. However, Itoje was off.

He had been cuffed into the scoreboard by Beirne and had made the point enough convincingly and diplomatically to persuade referee Ben O’Keeffe to remove it.

Itoje was present again, making a point as Russell prepared a potentially decisive conversion for England in the third round. Russell was given the instruction to take his unsuccessful kick from a slightly tighter angle by the referee, regardless of whether or not they were influenced.

Itoje once more made a convincing case when Wales full-back Blair Murray scored a try that was scored with team-mate Tomos Williams being offside, according to British and Irish Lions coach Farrell.

Following a knock-on by fellow Welshman Liam Williams late in the third Test, Ken Owens picked up the ball in New Zealand, which was a similar incident.