Look, it's important to retain a sense of perspective whenever these 'Team of the tournament' pieces come along from vaunted writers. It's supposed to be fun and spark debate and in a championship separated by razor thin margins, no one can quibble with the imperious Leigh Halfpenny getting the nod over Rob Kearney or Alun Wyn Jones taking his place in the second row.
But the fact that the truly abysmal Italy, the Italy that coughed up a cricket score to Wales yesterday have twice as many players on the team as the Champions is eyebrow raising to say the least.
We won't even mention the fact that Paul O'Connell wasn't deemed worthy of a spot.
Here is the selection:
15. Leigh Halfpenny
14. Leonardo Sarto
13. Jonathan Davies
12. Robbie Henshaw
11. Jack Nowell
10. George Ford
9. Edoardo Gori
8. Sergio Parisse
7. Sam Warburton
6. Peter O'Mahony
5. Luke Charteris
4. Alun Wyn Jones
3. Nicolas Mas
2. Leonardo Ghiraldini
1. Joe Marler.
(Sunday Times €)
Image: SPORTSFILE
