The 2022 Six Nations came to an electric end with France claiming the title in Paris with 25-13 victory over England.

And on same weekend, Italy ended a six-year wait for their first win in the tournament with a last gasp shock at Wales.

Just over six weeks ago, the Six Nations kicked off in dramatic fashion and little did anyone know the results we would see.

Here we’ll take a closer look at each team’s performances across the tournament.

France

Undoubtedly the best team in the competition and thoroughly deserving winners of the Grand Slam.

Solid performances week on week along with a little French flair puts them at the forefront of European rugby.

In terms of their best player there is only one man to pick.

Antoine Dupont the generational talent, their driving force and the world’s best player.

His contributions across this tournament are undeniable, his ruck speed allowing France to motor through teams.

He picked up two tries and two try assists as well as 37 carries earning 239 metres made.

Their best moment is obviously lifting their trophy in front of a packed-out Stade de France.

Ireland

So close, yet so far this is an Irish side rejuvenated, full to the brim with talent and oozing quality.

From forwards to backs they all look dangerous ball in hand and strong in defence, top try scorers this tournament with 24 shows their attacking prowess.

They also boast the best defensive record conceding four tries this year.

Two of those were conceded against France in a Round Two defeat for the men in green.

For their best player Jamison Gibson-Park, he’s displaced Conor Murray who has been a stalwart for years now.

He shows all the same abilities as Dupont just maybe not as dangerous with the ball in hand as his French counterpart.

Overall, it’s been a fantastic tournament for him and with the World Cup just 18 months away he has plenty of time to improve.

Ireland’s finest moment came in Round 1, a dominant victory over Wales set them apart from the rest of teams very quickly.

Almost shutting the Welsh out if it weren’t for a Taine Basham consolation try it shows just how good they were early on.

England

The divide between top two and everyone else has never been wider in terms of quality.

England looked toothless this year barely able to score tries being joint second lowest for that stat with Wales.

They had the highest number of penalty goals this year (17) and this shows where the expectation of points was to come from.

One small boost is Marcus Smith’s career defining first season at Fly-half, a position I expect him to retain next year.

For this reason he is England’s player of the tournament, he’s also the top points scorer and bagged himself two tries.

Scotland

The started the tournament brightly beating England courtesy of a Luke Cowan-Dickie penalty try.

It all went downhill from there though losing to Wales and France, clawing a victory from Italy and losing to Ireland.

There was very little bright for Scotland aside from the usual cast of Finn Russell and Stuart Hogg.

Duhan Van Der Merwe had a decent competition alongside Ali Price who also showed promise.

It wasn’t enough however as they saved their best performance for Round One.

Stuart Hogg is a world class player but his captaining was a little flat as reflected in the performances.

However, he is one of Scotland’s best players and when they play well it’s usually down to his contributions.

So, he takes best player, as for best moment it has to be retaining the Calcutta Cup back-to-back for the first time since 1984.

Wales

Again, like England and Scotland there’s very little to shout about for the Red Dragons of Wales.

One victory over Scotland in Round Two seemed liked it could be the comeback for the side but it wasn’t to be.

To cap it all off a loss to Italy in the dying seconds of Round Five’s encounter really rubs salt in the wounds.

There are a few options for best player and I’m actually going to change mine from my notes now.

I was going to say Taulupe Faletau but I’m going to say Seb Davies instead.

He stood in for injured Alun Wyn Jones the man who captained Wales to that 2019 Grand Slam and last year’s win.

You could see the difference without him in the side purely on leadership but in terms of that second-row strength it seemed the same.

Davies was a breath of fresh air and just as technically able as his much more experienced counterpart Alun Wyn.

It’s hard to pick a best moment for Wales, but I think their second half almost comeback against England was it.

They almost reclaimed the game back in England’s own backyard and showed that hunger we all saw last year.

Italy

Italy, Italy, Italy, another wooden spoon really doesn’t do the Azzurri any justice at all.

This is the best they’ve looked in a while really and their new faces look very promising.

Namely one 22-year-old; Agne Capuozzo.

Two tries in that loss to Scotland and a beautiful try assist versus Wales to win the game in his first two caps.

He was named in the Italy U20s in 2019 and is now competing with the very best for a senior spot.

It was an impressive tournament for the young man who could have a very bright future ahead of him.

Italy’s best moment is of course that 22-21 win over defending Champions Wales ending their 36 game losing streak.

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