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
