Six plays that defined the Six Nations

This year's Six Nations featured more tries than any previous championship, with 101 scored across 15 matches.

Despite more sophisticated defences, replacements replenishing teams' energy levels and a defence-friendly law change around players held up over the line, attacks keep finding a way to score.

Here are six plays that defined the teams, the tactics and their players.

Ireland's superpower, nurtured under Joe Schmidt and sharpened by Andy Farrell, has been the small details.

Intricate pre-plotted plays befuddle defences with a blizzard of runners, while they shift the ball with a cardsharp's speed and dexterity.

The play that broke English resistance on the opening round was the perfect example.

Wing James Lowe tucked himself directly behind team-mate Tadhg Beirne as they waited for the ball to emerge from the breakdown.

As Jamieson Gibson-Park picked and went from the base, Lowe swerved out of his hiding spot and past a dizzied Chandler Cunningham-South.

Beirne continued his run to take the final pass and score.

The question is now whether those well-worn patterns and deep understanding is enough.

Against France in round four, their plans were shattered by relentless forward power, intelligent improvisation and warp speed out wide.

Interim head coach Simon Easterby may, understandably, still be finding his feet as he steps in for Farrell during the latter's Lions secondment.

Maybe Leinster's change in style under former South Africa head coach Jacques Nienaber has had an effect.

The ageing spine to their team certainly will, with changes necessary over the next few seasons.

Keeping some of their trademark cohesion, while bringing in new players and finding alternative ways to win, is a tall challenge for whoever is at the helm.

Six points adrift of France, with a little over a minute left on the Twickenham clock and with a rookie Fin Smith at fly-half, England desperately needed something.

Another defeat, after losing to Ireland on the opening day, would set them on course for a mid-table finish, extend their losing run against top-tier opposition to seven straight games and increase the pressure on coach Steve Borthwick.

They found something.

Wing Elliot Daly, having pondered a blindside dart off a rolling maul, arced round the back of England's backline.

Ollie Lawrence and Tommy Freeman fixed France's centre pairing of Yoram Moefana and Pierre-Louis Barassi.

Smith still had work to as the ball came to him, but did it perfectly, delaying his pass for a fraction of a second to commit the drifting Barassi and give Daly time to hit the hole flat and at full tilt.

It was an impeccable first-phase strike move, executed with sniper precision.

It flipped England's fortunes, helped cement Smith's place at 10 and potentially deprived France of a Grand Slam.

There were a couple of moments during the championship that reminded everyone of France scrum-half Antoine Dupont's fallibility.

Against Wales, he booted prime ball straight into the Stade de France stands. Against England, he juggled and dropped a relatively simple pass, with the line at his mercy.

The knee ligament injury he suffered against Ireland, buckling under Beirne's weight at the breakdown, reminded us of his mortality.

But there were plenty of glimpses of his greatness as well, the things that, for all deputy Maxime Lucu's speed of pass and territorial kicking, were lost to France in his absence.

Dupont's use of the kick-pass to circumvent a defence that has pinched in tight against France's power gives them another dimension.

In France's tournament opener, after their heavy brigade had bashed away at a stubborn Wales defence for 12 phases, Dupont picked up the ball and dawdled sideways and backwards off the back of the breakdown.

For most coaches, that is a cardinal sin. But it drew the Welsh defence forwards and when Dupont chipped to the far wing, Josh Adams was wrong-footed and unable to stop Theo Attissogbe gathering and scoring the first of 30 French tries in the tournament.

In Dupont's absence, France were even deploying the tactic in defence, with Louis Bielle-Biarrey punting wide to opposite wing Damian Penaud during an audacious exit against Ireland.

No other team deployed the tactic as accurately.

Scotland finished fourth in the final table, but if there were backline style marks to hand out they would have come top of the scorecards.

They carried the ball more and further than any other team by a distance and also threw the most passes., external

The absence of injured captain Sione Tuipulotu at centre might have forced them to play with more width than they had originally intended, but it made for some scintillating scores.

Perhaps the best illustration of what they can do from deep was their second try in their win over Wales.

From a breakdown on the left touchline, a narrow forward charge proved to be a decoy with Finn Russell instead throwing a long pass to Blair Kinghorn, giving up territory, but opening up opportunities.

Support flooded through on the inside with Tom Jordan taking the pass and scoring.

Scotland lack the depth and heft up front of other nations, but their athleticism, creativity and understanding in open space can slice though any team.

Ireland may have finished third, but their meeting with France in round four was the headlining heavyweight contest on the Six Nations card.

There are many deep, structural reasons behind France's victory – a successful youth development system that pulls in players from different areas and background, their powerhouse clubs falling into line behind the national team and coach Fabien Galthie's adoption of forward-heavy replacements bench are among them.

But you also need gut feel; the instinct to read a situation and grab a moment, all in milliseconds.

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

Fly-half Sam Prendergast had men outside, a one or two-strong overlap, but Ramos didn't drift to try and contain Ireland. The 29-year-old instead shot out of the line, shot out a single hand (risking a penalty and yellow in doing so) and the ball stuck.

He raced upfield on his interception, lobbing the ball to Damien Penaud to finish under the sticks.

Not a move you can practise or teach, but indicative of France's licence to play what they see.

It wasn't run with pace, aggression or deception, but it was a move that England captain Maro Itoje made again and again during this year's Six Nations: a slow, almost apologetic advance on the referee to query a call.

Against Ireland in Dublin, Ronan Kelleher went over for the hosts. But Itoje was off.

He had been held into the breakdown by Beirne and made the point clearly and diplomatically enough, to convince referee Ben O'Keeffe to wipe it from the scoreboard.

As Russell lined up a potentially match-winning conversion against England in the third round, Itoje was there again, making a point. The referee, whether influenced or not, instructed Russell to take his unsuccessful kick from a slightly tighter angle.

British and Irish Lions coach Farrell was in attendance at the Principality Stadium to watch Itoje again make another persuasive case as Wales full-back Blair Murray had a try chalked off with team-mate Tomos Williams being offside.

The 2017 Lions series decider in New Zealand pivoted on a similar incident – Ken Owens picking up the ball after a knock-on by fellow Welshman Liam Williams late in the third Test.

Is Itoje the captain the Lions of 2025 need to make their case?