Source: Alamy Stock Photo.
New social media data shows rugby fans’ favourite performers from the Six Nations Championship.
Everyone knows rugby is about the fans and new data from Betway reveals what the Six Nations Team of the Tournament would look like if it was decided by supporter sentiment.
Using the social media sentiment data, our team was able to find the percentage of positive social media posts about every Six Nations player since the start of February.
The three highest scoring players are France’s Greg Aldritt (48%) and Ireland pair Andrew Porter (46%) and James Lowe (41%). In fact, Ireland has the most players in the team with five, followed by France, Scotland and Italy who all have three stars represented in the team. England has one, and Wales has none.
|
TEAM OF THE 6N |
COUNTRY |
SENTIMENT |
|
Andrew Porter |
Ireland |
46% |
|
Gianmarco Lucchesi |
Italy |
36% |
|
Zander Fagerson |
Scotland |
35% |
|
Thibaud Flament |
France |
24% |
|
Tadhg Beirne |
Ireland |
11% |
|
Peter O’Mahony |
Ireland |
29% |
|
Ben Earl |
England |
15% |
|
Greg Aldritt |
France |
48% |
|
Antoine Dupont |
France |
17% |
|
Sam Prendergast |
Ireland |
17% |
|
James Lowe |
Ireland |
41% |
|
Tommaso Menoncello |
Italy |
14% |
|
Huw Jones |
Scotland |
19% |
|
Ange Capuzzo |
Italy |
33% |
|
Blair Kinghorn |
Scotland |
13% |
Ireland’s Sam Prendergast – whose continued selection at fly-half over Jack Crowley was a contentious talking point throughout the competition – emerges as the tournament’s most positively received number ten.
Ben Earl (15%) proved to be England’s most complimented player, Zander Fagerson (35%) led the charge for Scotland and Wales’s Ellis Mee (although he doesn’t make the Team of the Tournament) scored an impressive 25%.
England Social Media Sentiment
|
ENGLAND |
SCORE |
|
Ellis Genge |
13% |
|
Luke Cowan-Dickie |
15% |
|
Will Stuart |
10% |
|
Maro Itoje |
10% |
|
Ollie Chessum |
11% |
|
Tom Curry |
18% |
|
Ben Earl |
15% |
|
Tom Willis |
6% |
|
Alex Mitchell |
11% |
|
Fin Smith |
12% |
|
Ollie Sleightholme |
8% |
|
Henry Slade |
9% |
|
Ollie Lawrence |
10% |
|
Tommy Freeman |
7% |
|
Marcus Smith |
9% |
|
Team Average |
11% |
Ireland Social Media Sentiment
|
IRELAND |
SCORE |
|
Andrew Porter |
46% |
|
Dan Sheehan |
12% |
|
Thomas Clarkson |
7% |
|
Joe McCarthy |
6% |
|
Tadhg Beirne |
11% |
|
Peter O’Mahony |
29% |
|
Josh Van der Flier |
9% |
|
Jack Conan |
15% |
|
Jamison Gibson-Park |
15% |
|
Sam Prendergast |
17% |
|
James Lowe |
41% |
|
Robbie Henshaw |
14% |
|
Garry Ringrose |
5% |
|
Mack Hansen |
7% |
|
Jamie Osbourne |
3% |
|
Team Average |
16% |
Scotland Social Media Sentiment
|
SCOTLAND |
SCORE |
|
Pierre Schoeman |
8% |
|
Dave Cherry |
14% |
|
Zander Fagerson |
35% |
|
Jonny Gray |
7% |
|
Grand Gilchrist |
9% |
|
Jamie Ritchie |
20% |
|
Rory Darge |
8% |
|
Jack Dempsey |
10% |
|
Ben White |
14% |
|
Finn Russell |
9% |
|
Duhan VDM |
15% |
|
Tom Jordan |
7% |
|
Huw Jones |
19% |
|
Kyle Rowe |
15% |
|
Blair Kinghorn |
13% |
|
Team Average |
14% |
Wales Social Media Sentiment
|
WALES |
SCORE |
|
Nicky Smith |
19% |
|
Elliot Dee |
3% |
|
Willgriff John |
21% |
|
Will Rowlands |
19% |
|
Dafydd Jenkins |
6% |
|
Jac Morgan |
15% |
|
Tommy Reffell |
10% |
|
Taulupe Faletau |
14% |
|
Tomos Williams |
10% |
|
Gareth Anscombe |
6% |
|
Ellis Mee |
25% |
|
Ben Thomas |
7% |
|
Max Llewllyn |
3% |
|
Tom Rogers |
5% |
|
Blair Murray |
9% |
|
Team Average |
11% |
France Social Media Sentiment
|
FRANCE |
SCORE |
|
Jean-Baptiste Gros |
6% |
|
Peato Mauvaka |
6% |
|
Uini Atonio |
6% |
|
Thibaud Flament |
24% |
|
Mickael Guillard |
7% |
|
Francois Cros |
11% |
|
Paul Boudehent |
8% |
|
Greg Alldritt |
48% |
|
Antoine Dupont |
17% |
|
Thomas Ramos |
10% |
|
Louis Bielle-Biarrey |
7% |
|
Yoram Moefana |
11% |
|
Pierre-Louis Barassi |
9% |
|
Theo Attissogbe |
10% |
|
Leo Barre |
12% |
|
Team Average |
13% |
Italy Social Media Sentiment
|
ITALY |
SCORE |
|
Danilo Fischetti |
8% |
|
Gianmarco Lucchesi |
36% |
|
Simeone Ferrari |
17% |
|
Niccolo Cannone |
8% |
|
Federico Ruzza |
10% |
|
Sebastian Negri |
5% |
|
Michele Lamaro |
6% |
|
Lorenzo Cannone |
25% |
|
Martin Page-Relo |
5% |
|
Paolo Garbisi |
16% |
|
Simone Gesi |
6% |
|
Tommaso Menoncello |
14% |
|
Juan Ignacio Brex |
11% |
|
Ange Capuzzo |
33% |
|
Tommaso Allan |
4% |
|
Team Average |
14% |
Methodology
Data was collected using Brandwatch which tracked social media sentiment for each player since February 1st. This data is sourced from X, Instagram, Facebook and Reddit. This research shows the percentage of positive comments about players. Note that the percentage of positive posts may appear low but that is because the majority of posts about players online are considered ‘neutral’.
The teamsheets shown in this blog are taken from gameweek three of the tournament.
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