Six Nations 2015: 10 Players Who Enhanced Their Reputations

The 2015 Six Nations was a last competitive window for players to state their cases for World Cup selection.

Showcasing your individual skills as part of the collective effort to win a fiercely contested tournament is a fine balancing act but several men knew they had to do just that to push their cases for inclusion in the starting XVs come the autumn.

Here are the names who made the best advances toward starting certainty later this year.

George Ford cemented himself as the first choice fly-half for England’s World Cup campaign.

His ability to assess what is in front of him and create space for others moved England’s attacking strategy on a few steps.

He took the ball flat to the line and showed precision timing to release his runners.

Johnny Sexton’s performances against France and England elevated him in the eyes of many pundits to the status of best No. 10 in the world currently.

A fit Dan Carter will probably challenge that opinion later this year, but Sexton showed his class, especially after a long concussion-induced layoff.

His radar went off the boil against Wales somewhat, but the Racing Metro man showed how vital he is to the Irish side.

Ben Youngs was not alone in having a poor 80 minutes in Dublin for England.

But either side of that defeat, the Leicester stand-in skipper landed several blows in his fight to be first choice scrum-half.

His pace and eye for a gap caused problems for every defence, in particular France, against whom he scored twice and made another dart from a ruck to race clear and set up George Ford.

From sidelined injury victim in the 2014 competition, Youngs is back in the box seat now.

A searing try against Wales, some wonderful raids against England and a solid defensive effort at Twickenham as well.

Stuart Hogg gets better with each season and will be a target for some of Europe’s top sides if his trajectory continues.

He did a lot of good work in attack against Ireland, and it was a bit cruel on him when he lost the ball in the act of scoring what would have been a crucial try in the context of the championship.

A year on from being sent off against Wales, Hogg confirmed his status as his country’s best back.

He may be their only world-class player.

Jonathan Joseph has ended the discussion about who should play No. 13 for England.

His dancing feet brought tries against Wales, Italy and Scotland, and along with George Ford, he has transformed the way England attack.

All they need to do now is settle on a No. 12 and the interminable English midfield merry-go-round will be able to cease.

Dan Biggar has emerged from the shadow of Rhys Priestland and quelled all talk of the arrival of Gareth Anscombe from New Zealand as the next Welsh No. 10.

The Ospreys fly-half showed his resilience on two occasions, after smashing heads with Gethin Jenkins against England and then being tipped over by Finn Russell in Edinburgh.

He survived it all to orchestrate his back line manfully in Paris and score the crucial Welsh try there, before keeping his head in the pressure cooker tension of Wales' win over Ireland to slot a cool drop goal.

We already knew Leigh Halfpenny was a world-class No. 15, but he reaffirmed that view with consummate goal-kicking in every game and superb decision-making with ball in hand.

When he had to field aerial bombs, he was safe, too.

He is the complete full-back, who just needs to keep his head on the right side when tackling hurtling back-row forwards.

Ireland’s answer to Jamie Roberts made an excellent Six Nations debut.

Big and powerful, Robbie Henshaw gave the Irish a gain-line-breaking presence at No. 12 and also showed his skill with a leaping try against England.

He should prove hard to shift from the Irish midfield for quite some time.

Italy’s outside centre Luca Morisi burst into life with two tries against England at Twickenham, showing off his speed and strength with those scores.

If the Azzurri had a fly-half good enough to release the young man more often, Morisi would become a major weapon.

This time last year, Billy Vunipola couldn’t play the full 80.

Now he can run all day, burst through holes and make huge hits from first whistle to last.

What’s more, he is still a very young man and has huge scope for further improvement.