No English, Welsh or Scottish players make Gerry Thornley'sline-up but eight Irishmen take their places alongside four French and three Italians Road to the World Cup
15 Girvan Dempsey (Ireland)
A toss-up between the Swerve and Clement Poitrenaud, who were comfortably way ahead of the undistinguished remainder, but the beautifully balanced, creative and reborn Toulouse man was found out a bit in Twickenham whereas Dempsey augmented peerless positional play with improved counter-attacking and three tries.
14 Christophe Dominici (France)
Vincent Clerc arguably should be in there for his awesome display in Croke Park and providing the decisive moment of the tournament, damn and blast him, but in a vintage year for the more vintage wingers (allowing for David Strettle's enthusiasm and elusiveness) Dominici remained a key man for France, popping up everywhere.
13 Brian O'Driscoll (Ireland)
Big plays in Wales, sorely missed against France and in the last 20 in Rome, the Great One led the team superbly against England and in Edinburgh. French playmaker-in-chief Yannick Jauzion sumptuously and effortlessly carved Scotland and Wales open but didn't fancy it in Twickenham. Gonzalo Canale and Tom Shanklin were the best of the rest.
12 Gordon D'Arcy (Ireland)
James Hook was good, and brilliant when moved to outhalf, Mirco Bergamasco, Florian Fritz, David Marty and others shone well, but D'Arcy was different class. Dazzling footwork, strong defence, leg-pumping in contact, a constant source of go-forward. Turned over the ball once in the campaign; a pity he was played at 13 against France.
11 Denis Hickie (Ireland)
The under-used Jason Robinson (four games, four passes and four tries) was back to his best, but ditto Denis. You can't beat pace and such footballing acumen. Might easily have been top-try scorer at 50/1, as the Gleesons Cartel know only too well, but finally achieved his just desserts of a Crown and a brace of overdue tries in Rome.
10 Ronan O'Gara (Ireland)
A blast from the past from Jonny, glimpses of the future in Lionel Beauxis, Toby Flood, Shane Geraghty and Hook, while David Skrela was consistently good if one-paced, but O'Gara was the best, reaching dizzying heights against England and Italy, nailing big kicks in Cardiff and Edinburgh, and finishing as top points scorer and joint top try scorer.
9 Pierre Mignoni (France)
Arguably the most competitive position. Peter Stringer, consistently excellent, Dwayne Peel, a beacon of Welsh light, Alessandro Troncon, (the totem of the Azzurri's arrival, and the fiercely competitive, sniping Harry Ellis all had good tournaments, but the pace, blindside probing, awareness and creativity of Pierre Mignoni stood out
1 Olivier Milloud (France)
Gethin Jenkins began to emerge from his trough, Andrea Lo Cicero looked back to his best, and the most skilful and dynamic of all, Marcus Horan, made the L'Equipe team of the tournament. But that seemed harsh on Milloud, also absent in spirit in Twickenham, and the number he did on Carlos Nieto in the opener went a long way towards drawing a French line in the sand.
2 Raphael Ibanez (France)
Don't quite get George Chuter's name popping up on these things. Matthew Rees finished the tournament strongly, Rory Best surprised many of us, Carlo Festuccia was one of the Italian pillars, but Ibanez improved dodgy darts, took plenty of ball on, scored a crucial try in Croke Park and ultimately led France to the title.
3 Carlos Nieto (Italy)
Martin Castrogiovanni looked the most potent but had limited game time, Chris Horsman scrummaged well but did little else, Julien White had a mixed bag and was too ill-disciplined, John Hayes had some storming games and Pieter de Villiers had a blinder against Scotland but Nieto epitomised the Azzurri's forward power.
4 Marco Bortolami (Italy)
Not only in Stadio Flaminio, but in the Shed the Italian tricolore flutters proudly in honour of the Azzurri captain. Wonderfully athletic, mobile and the reference point for so much of Italy's excellent forward play, he played every minute bar a costly and unjust ten in the Twickenham bin. No-one deserved his defiant late try on Saturday more.
5 Paul O'Connell (Ireland)
Relatively low-key by his own high standards in the games against Wales and France, though hardly terrible, his virtuoso leader-from-the-front display against England - all bristling aggression - was the best by any forward in the tournament and Ireland most probably would not have won without more of the same in Edinburgh.
6 Sergio Parisse (Italy)
Serge Betsen's defence remains superb, if not so prominent in Twickenham, but his contribution in attack is negligible and Simon Easterby had a fine tournament. Parisse may have tried to do too much on Saturday and strictly speaking is a number eight, but he had carried a monumental load with his astonishing array of skills
7 David Wallace (Ireland)
Martyn Williams was a rare Welsh contender but Wallace was in a different league from the rest. Speed, strength, offloads; the ridiculously dynamic Munsterman gave us the whole gamut pretty much throughout his five 80 minute efforts and got down and dirty too, witness his unstoppable, trademark close-range try against England. Vied with D'Arcy for player of the tournament.
8 Denis Leamy (Ireland)
The leading ball-carrier again on Saturday, loads of selfless and unstinting work, jarring tackles, key turnovers of opposition ball in the tackle area, Leamy oozed footballing savvy and abrasive competitiveness. Rebounded from nervous performance against France with four massive games out of five. Were there two of him?
REPLACEMENTS:Carlo Festuccia (Italy), John Hayes (Ireland), Donncha O'Callaghan (Ireland), Simon Easterby (Ireland), Dwayne Peel (Wales), James Hook (Wales), David Strettle (England).
ROAD TO THE WORLD CUP
May 26th:Australia v Wales; New Zeland v France; South Africa v England: Argentina v Ireland.
June 2nd:Australia v Wales; New Zealand v France; South Africa v England; Argentina v Ireland; Romania v Scotland; USA v Italy.
June 9th:Australia v Fiji; New Zealand v France; South Africa v Samoa; Argentina v Italy.
June 16th: South Africa v Australia; New Zealand v Canada.
June 23rd:South Africa v New Zealand.
June 30th:Australia v New Zealand.
July 7th:Australia v South Africa.
July 14th:New Zealand v South Africa.
July 21st:New Zealand v Australia.
August 4th:England v Wales.
August 11th:England v France; Scotland v Ireland.
August 18th:France v England; Wales v Argentina.
August 25th: Ireland v Italy; Scotland v South Africa.
August 26th: Wales v France.
