My Six Nations verdict, team of tournament, star man and Scotland concerns

If we’re being pragmatic, it was more of the same.

Scotland won three games — for the fifth time in nine Six Nations campaigns under Gregor Townsend. Going back to the autumn, there was a growing sense externally that three wins was the bare minimum to justify his position. That may not have been the internal view at Scottish Rugby, but it certainly shaped public perception.

The opening defeat to Italy was the one that really hurt. Even allowing for the conditions, it’s the result that still stings the most.

By week two, the mood remained subdued. Beating England was impressive, but it came with a familiar narrative — Scotland raising their game for that fixture after a setback.

The win over Wales in round three wasn’t pretty, but it was important. With emotional energy likely low, Scotland still found a way to get the job done.

Then came the standout: the victory over France. Scoring 50 points against a team of that calibre ranks among Scotland’s greatest Six Nations performances.

That made the final-round defeat by Ireland in Dublin feel deflating, despite some excellent attacking play. Scotland scored three outstanding multi-phase tries — something we don’t often associate with them.

Traditionally, Scotland’s attack thrives on set-piece or transition moments, built on creativity and speed. But these tries showed a different side — patience, structure, and the ability to grind down elite opposition.

Ireland, however, were outstanding. Their defence and breakdown control were exceptional.

That’s where Scotland struggled most. Ireland’s ability to slow the ball — something they’ve consistently done in recent meetings — disrupted everything. Scotland failed to win a single breakdown turnover, a testament to how well-drilled Andy Farrell’s side are. Their forward pods were incredibly tight, their support immediate, and their ball security near flawless.

Scotland, by contrast, looked too loose at times. Tighter support and better ruck organisation might have generated quicker ball and preserved attacking width.

Zooming out, there were clear positives. The multi-phase attack improved, the scrum developed as the tournament progressed, and the lineout recovered well after a shaky start against Italy. But defence is the major concern.

This is not the same Scotland defensively as in recent years. They conceded 18 tries — too many for a team with top-two ambitions. While France conceded more and still won the title, that was an outlier driven by two unusually high-scoring matches, against Scotland and England.

Scotland remain stuck in a cycle: either a sharp attack with a fragile defence, or a solid defence with a blunt attack. Finding balance is the key challenge.

Fixing defence happens on the training field, but there are structural issues too. Defence coach Lee Radford is not full-time, returning to club duties with Northampton Saints during the season — and that matters. By contrast, his predecessor Steve Tandy built one of the tournament’s best defensive systems early in his tenure.

Context matters, but so do results.

The Scotland players who stood out

There were three for me. Jack Dempsey was a bit quiet in the last game but I thought over the course of the tournament he was excellent. He gave Scotland a platform to attack, something they’ve been crying out for. He’s not the biggest No 8 in the world but his power is just incredible. He will be a big loss when he goes to Japan if he is not available for Scotland.

Rory Darge had to put up with a bucket-load of criticism before the tournament. There were loads of people asking whether he should even be in the team, with a lot of chatter around Freddy Douglas’ credentials. But I think Darge has been phenomenal, he's been the best seven in the tournament.

And then Kyle Steyn is the other one. I think Steyno was different gravy to everyone else in that Scotland backline: so consistent, so powerful, his work under the high ball was outstanding as was his defensive work. Kyle was one of the players of the Six Nations across all the teams.

Scotland’s breakout player

Kyle Steyn. He’s not a newcomer, but this felt like a breakthrough in terms of recognition. While much of the spotlight falls on Darcy Graham and Duhan van der Merwe, Steyn offers something different — but he’s just as valuable.

He’s an elite all-rounder. Safe under the high ball, strong defensively, and an excellent communicator, he raises the levels of those around him.

He reminds me a little of Sean Maitland. Without being the superstar, he is the guy that you have in your team every single week because he makes the entire team better by being there.

Who underwhelmed for Scotland?

I don't think we got enough out of the centres given the quality that Sione Tuipulotu and Huw Jones possess. They had some really great moments and they certainly didn't play badly, far from it, but I’m not sure we got enough out of them consistently across the five games.

They were pretty quiet against Italy. I know the conditions were difficult, but you really needed them to step up at times.

They were quiet at the weekend against Ireland as well. I think when you've got two world-class players at 12 and 13, you need to get them involved as much as possible in every game.

Does Gregor Townsend come out of this tournament in a better or worse place that before?

From a public perception standpoint, he’s in a stronger position.

There are still valid criticisms around consistency and performances against top-tier opposition — particularly given the continued struggles against Ireland.

But in terms of attacking rugby, Scotland produced some of their best performances under Townsend. That speaks to his ability to evolve and extract new levels from the squad.

The challenge remains consistency.

Scotland need to flatten the extremes — fewer 9/10 highs followed by 4/10 lows — and instead operate consistently at a 7.5–8.5 level.

Whether that balance can be achieved under Townsend remains an open question.

Still, he ends this tournament in a better place than he began it.

My thoughts on the tournament as a whole

I thought it was a great tournament. I don't ever remember the Six Nations being as competitive as this.

It felt like every team was capable of beating everyone else. Scotland lost to Italy, then beat England. England lost to Italy, having hammered Wales. Scotland beat Wales, Wales then hammer Italy. Ireland hammer England, and Ireland got hammered by France. And France got hammered by Scotland, and then England pulled out a massive performance against France in the very last match only to lose it at the death.

When you think back across the history of the Six Nations, people have called for change, for relegation, complained about the lack of competitiveness. For a while some critics were questioning whether Italy and Scotland could compete at this level. Then, more recently, that has been levelled at Wales.

I think if you look at the standings, yes, there's a big gap between the top three and the bottom three but the quality of rugby on show has been incredible.

Saturday was a brilliant day of rugby. Being able to sit and watch all three of those games back-to-back was a joy.

Apart from the first weekend, every game was reasonably high-scoring and that was down to the quality on show, not bad defence.

This championship should serve as a warning to the powers that be to not tinker for the sake of tinkering. Lots of new law trials come in every year and they can have unintended consequences. We were all worried about how much kicking there would be in this Six Nations, and there was a lot in the first two rounds. But teams worked each other out and that's because they've got the best coaches and the best players in the world. Across the five rounds they worked out ways around the kicking, deploying different styles of play and we saw some brilliant rugby over the last couple of weekends.

The final round was the perfect showcase. Super Saturday, on free-to-air TV, was the greatest exposure that rugby's had for a long time. Everything was on the line in those three games. Three teams were in with a shot at the title and two teams were vying to avoid finishing bottom. So there was jeopardy in all the games and it was a great advent for the sport.

My player of the tournament

For the way that he can change a game, I would have to say Louis Bielle-Biarrey. He's unplayable at times.

It’s actually really difficult to pick out one player because I don't think anyone was consistently unbelievable in all five games but I do think whenever Bielle-Biarrey's on the pitch and the ball’s anywhere near him, you know he's going to score and he can change the game.

How many times did he get a try out of nothing? He ended up with nine across the tournament, a new record, and got four in France’s win over England which ultimately proved decisive.

He's one of the best players in the world to watch because of how quickly he can change a game.

My team of the tournament

15. Thomas Ramos (France)

14. Louis Bielle-Biarrey (France)

13. Tommaso Menoncello (Italy)

12. Stuart McCloskey (Ireland)

11. Kyle Steyn (Scotland)

10. Finn Russell (Scotland)

9. Jamison Gibson-Park (Ireland)

1. Rhys Carré (Wales)

2. Julien Marchand (France)

3. Simone Ferrari (Italy)

4. Emmanuel Meafou (France)

5. Charles Ollivon (France)

6. François Cros (France)

7. Rory Darge (Scotland)

8. Caelan Doris (Ireland)