- Five English players secure a place on the dream team, meaning England ties with France as most utilized nationality in the squad
- Combined team announced ahead of Men and Women’s 2024 Championships
- 676 Six Nations players were analysed in total; 357 men and 319 women
- Over 100 statistical data categories used to inform AI algorithm with Stats Perform and Opta
- Top performers from the last four years championed in unique starting line up
- Sage is the Official Insights Partner of Six Nations Rugby
Sage, Official Insights Partner of Six Nations Rugby, has today unveiled the first combined men’s and women’s Guinness Six Nations dream team selected using statistical/historic playing data and artificial intelligence (AI).
Announced ahead of the 2024 Guinness Men’s and Women’s Six Nations Championships, the all-star team features 11 Grand Slam winners, 6 Test captains, 4 players from the Championship winners, with a combined total of 955 Test caps.
As experts in data driven insight, Sage worked with Opta to use a unique AI powered algorithm analysing player performances from the last four years. This selection process took into account the performance of individual players made during every Championship match since 2020 and assessed their impact; both positive and negative.
Opta analysed 676 Championship players in total, and contenders across both the men (357) and women’s (319) game were ranked, with the top scoring individuals selected for the team. When it comes to top scorers, Maro Itoje is the only player to have played all 1600 available minutes in the men’s Six Nations this decade, and Sarah Bern has scored at least three more tries than any other prop in the Women’s tournament in the same time period.
In a powerful Anglo-French front row, the trio of Grand Slammers Cyril Baille, Julien Marchand and Sarah Bern are named, with Maro Itoje and James Ryan completing the front five. The dominant Rachel Malcolm, Marlie Packer and Gregory Alldritt complete a formidable forward pack.
Three-time men’s player of the Championship Antoine Dupont partners with fly-half Dan Biggar. In the centres Gabrielle Vernier and Emily Scarratt are selected, complementing a potent attacking back three of Duhan Van Der Merwe, Jess Breach and Scotland men’s leading try scorer, Stuart Hogg.
In announcing Sage’s combined team Sally Moore, Senior Director Global Sponsorship, Sage said: “As a company that understands the power of data and insights, we wanted to discover the best combined team from recent years by removing the subjectivity and use a consistent formula to measure and compare performance. In working with the team at Stats Perform, we are proud to champion the top players across the men’s and women’s games and present this in a way never seen before.
“This is great insight for rugby fans and it shows the level of data insights technology can bring to fans, pundits and media to enhance how we watch and understand the men’s and women’s Guinness Six Nations tournaments.”
Alex Rice, Chief Commercial Officer at Stats Perform added “We are proud to partner with Sage in assembling a formidable, combined men’s and women’s Championship team. The team has been selected utilising our unrivalled Opta database and unique algorithm, allowing men’s and women’s players to be compared equally for the first time.
“We are extremely excited to be supporting Sage and Six Nations rugby once again ahead of the 2024 Championships and look forward to another successful iteration of the Championship.”
Sage’s combined Guinness Six Nations dream XV*
15. Stuart Hogg (Scotland),
14. Jess Breach (England)
13. Emily Scarratt (England)
12. Gabrielle Vernier (France)
11. Duhan Van Der Merwe (Scotland)
10. Dan Biggar (Wales)
9. Antoine Dupont (France)
1. Cyril Baille (France)
2. Julien Marchand (France)
3. Sarah Bern (England)
4. Maro Itoje (England)
5. James Ryan (Ireland)
6. Rachel Malcolm (Scotland)
7. Marlie Packer (England)
8.Gregory Alldritt (France)
*Data and insight used from the 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 men’s and women’s Championships
-ENDS-
Contacts:
CSM Sport & Entertainment
Callum Sheppard, Senior Account Director – Communications
callum.sheppard@csm.com / +447768560394
Stats Perform
Jonathan McCormick, Team Lead – Data Editorial
jonathan.mccormick@statsperform.com
About Sage
Sage exists to knock down barriers so everyone can thrive, starting with the millions of Small and Mid-Sized Businesses served by us, our partners and accountants. Customers trust our finance, HR and payroll software to make work and money flow. By digitising business processes and relationships with customers, suppliers, employees, banks and governments, our digital network connects SMBs, removing friction and delivering insights. Knocking down barriers also means we use our time, technology and experience to tackle digital inequality, economic inequality and the climate crisis.
About Stats Perform and their Opta Database
Stats Perform is the market leader in sports tech providing the most trusted sports data and the latest advancements in applying AI and machine learning to deliver better predictions for teams, sportsbooks and a more engaging broadcast, media and fan experience. Opta is their sports database. The company collects the most detailed sports data to create new experiences across sports. Leveraging the richest sports database, Opta enhances sports competition and entertainment through machine learning and computer vision to create advanced predictions and analysis – be that for digital and broadcast media with differentiated storytelling, tech companies with reliable and fast data to power their innovations, sportsbooks with in-play betting and integrity services, or teams with first-of-its-kind AI analysis software. For more information, visit StatsPerform.com