Six Nations 2015: Leading Points Scorers and Players to Watch Ahead of Round 3
George Ford's booting exploits have been a large factor in England's rise to the summit of the Six Nations and the Red Rose's maestro currently leads the point-scoring ranks coming into Week 3.
Leigh Halfpenny's 24 points see him trail the English playmaker by just two, with both players poised to have a huge hand in their contests against France and Ireland, respectively.
A test at the Aviva Stadium will give Ford a major examination in whether he's fit to take top points scorer, with Jonathan Sexton also looking to claw his way back after missing Week 1.
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Ahead of the third-round schedule, we examine which players are worth keeping an eye on in each fixture.
| 1 | George Ford | England | 26 |
| 2 | Leigh Halfpenny | Wales | 24 |
| 3 | Camille Lopez | France | 21 |
| 4 | Jonathan Joseph | England | 15 |
| 5 | Jonathan Sexton | Ireland | 15 |
| 6 | Ian Keatley | Ireland | 14 |
| 7 | Greig Laidlaw | Scotland | 14 |
| 8 | Luca Morisi | Italy | 10 |
| 9 | Rhys Webb | Wales | 10 |
| 10 | Danny Cipriani | England | 7 |
Week 3 Players to Watch
Luca Morisi, Italy
Michele Campagnaro is regarded as one of the most promising assets emerging from Italy's ranks, so Jacques Brunel would have been devastated to learn his young centre would miss the rest of the Six Nations with injury.
However, Luca Morisi has come in to play a big role in the No. 13 jersey, earning the praise of journalist Brendan Gallagher in the process:
His two tries at Twickenham in Week 2 were little more than consolatory in the face of defeat, but they did showcase the 23-year-old's dazzling line-break ability and a motivation to impress.
Writer Alex Shaw was full of praise for Morisi, who brings arguably just as exciting a prospect to the Azzurri squad as Campagnaro:
The Treviso starlet takes on another promising figure this week in the shape of Scotland's Mark Bennett, someone who Vern Cotter is expecting a lot of in the bid to lead the Scots' line.
Both midfielders are capable of entertaining rugby when attempting to assert themselves while carrying, but have each already shown their share of defensive lapses in the tournament thus far.
Jamie Roberts, Wales
Jamie Roberts is preparing to take on a raft of familiar faces at the Stade de France, where a host of Top 14 figures will have eyes on keeping the Racing Metro midfielder quiet.
It's strange coincidence, then, that Wales are set to take on Les Bleus just as commentator Martin Gillingham was one of those to report rumours that Roberts is set to leave the Top 14, something Rugby World's Paul Williams supports:
Roberts was able to find a more consistent stride against Scotland in Week 2, having stuttered along with the rest of his back line during the loss at England's hands.
With Remi Lamerat coming in at outside centre in place of the dropped Mathieu Bastareaud, France will have a new centre dynamic to form. Gallagher praised the Welshman's display against the Scots:
Wesley Fofana remains as the French staple at inside centre, a huge one-on-one battle for Roberts to assess, but not one that he's incapable of winning to give Wales a massive midfield foundation.
Conor Murray, Ireland
Arguably Ireland's most reliable player of the tournament so far, Conor Murray has continued to feed Schmidt's side with the quick ball and ingenuity that's made him such an established figure at scrum-half.
A win this weekend would be Ireland's 10th in succession, tying their 2003 record, but Murray is quoted by The42.ie as saying there are bigger prizes at stake:
"I think Joe [Schmidt] mentioned it during the week, that it is there for the taking, but for us at the moment there’s a bigger prize of beating England and staying alive in this competition and doing well in that. And then after that you look at these type of records. It’s nice but it’s not the motivating factor for us this week
It’s tough. It’s hard when you haven’t experienced a win against them [England] and I know how tough it’s going to be next Sunday, it’s going to be an extremely physical game.
"
Ireland have struggled to find their fluidity in the back after two weeks of competition, making it all the more important that any ball Murray supplies his back line with is of a certain standard.
Just as it was against Italy, Murray's initiative will also play a big part in seeing whether the England pack is up to the task of rejecting any probes made by the Irish No. 9.
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