Following another thrilling weekend of the Six Nations, Planet Rugby once again delves into individual statistics and who topped the respective categories.

Round Three saw Ireland keep their Grand Slam hopes alive, defeating Italy 34-20 in a hard-fought encounter in Rome. Meanwhile, Steve Borthwick claimed his second win in charge of England, beating Wales 20-10 in Cardiff. Finally, France ran out 32-21 victors in Paris over Scotland.

With the help of Opta stats, we look at the seven individual stat leaders after three rounds of action.

Top try scorers

We finally have a front-runner for the top try-scoring accolade. After two rounds of action, four players had scored more than once, but in Round Three, Huw Jones scored a brace to move ahead of the pack.

The Scotland centre scored in the Calcutta Cup clash with England in Round One but did one better against France, grabbing two five-pointers.

Among the nine players on two tries, Ireland lock James Ryan is the only forward with more than one try.

Fast fact: Jones has scored more tries than Wales in the Six Nations, as Warren Gatland’s side has scored just twice over their three games.

Top points scorers

Thomas Ramos has topped the points scoring charts throughout the competition and kept the pace in Round Three.

The French full-back is averaging 15 points per game in the tournament after scoring 45 points in the opening three fixtures.

Against Scotland, the 27-year-old scored 17 points, including one try, two penalties and three conversions. He holds a 15-point advantage over second-placed Finn Russell and a 26-point lead over Johnny Sexton in third.

Fast fact: Russell has assisted the most tries in the Championship, setting up four tries for his teammates. Six players share second place: Conor Murray, James Lowe, Antoine Dupont, Sione Tuipulotu, Finlay Bealham and Romain Ntamack, all with two.

Top tacklers

Scotland’s Matt Fagerson led the tackle count in the tournament’s opening two rounds but has now slipped to second place.

The Scottish number eight has made 56 tackles across the opening three rounds, just two less than the stats’ new leader Thibaud Flament.

The French lock has made an outstanding 58 tackles, adding 15 to his tally in Round Three.

There is now a 12-tackle gap between Fagerson in second place and third-placed Anthony Jelonch, who was forced off the pitch with an injury this week.

However, hooker Julien Marchand has equalled Jelonch’s tally (48), the same as England’s Maro Itoje.

Fast fact: Itoje topped the tackle count in Round Three, making 19 of his 22 attempted tackles against Wales. Justin Tipuric and Owen Farrell posted the next best tallies of 17.

Top carriers

Surprisingly, Scotland fly-half Finn Russell tops the carry count in the Six Nations. Usually, the stat is topped by a forward or possibly a centre.

However, Russell (45) edges Italy’s Seb Negri and Caelan Doris, who have both made 41.

England prop Ellis Genge and Ireland full-back Hugo Keenan have the next-best tallies of 38.

Fast fact: Ellis Genge has the best carries over the gainline per 80 minutes in the Six Nations. He averages 9.5 carries over the gainline per game and is closely followed in the stat by Ollie Lawerence (9.3).

Most defenders beaten

France managed to contain Duhan van der Merwe in Round Three, but the Scotland winger still leads the competition in defenders beaten.

He managed just one defender beating against Les Bleus, taking his tally to 21 in the 2023 Six Nations. He has now beaten just one defender more than Ange Capouzzo.

France wingers Damian Penaud (19) and Ethan Dumortier (18) are not too far from behind Van der Merwe.

Fast fact: Ireland did not lose a single ruck in their Six Nations clash with Italy and generated a ruck speed average of 2.88 seconds. The next fastest average ruck speed was 3.16 by Scotland.

Running metres

Full-back Ramos posted the second most metres gained by a France player in a Six Nations match since 2015. He gained 151 metres against Scotland, a tally only better by Noa Nakaitaci against England in 2015.

Despite his massive tally in Round Three, Ramos (315) still sits in third place overall in the stat.

Ireland winger James Lowe is in second place with 337 after gaining 117 metres against Italy. Yet, he is still far off from the pacesetter Hugo Keenan has tallied up 415 metres across Ireland’s three matches.

Fast fact: Italy winger Pierre Bruno gained more metres than Ramos in Round Three, gaining 155 metres against Ireland.

Lineout wins

Italy’s Federico Ruzza remains the most popular lineout option in the Championship. He has secured possession for the Azzurri 22 times in the first three games.

He is closely followed by Scotland’s Richie Gray (16), while England have shown their versatility at the set-piece with Maro Itoje and Ollie Chessum claiming 13 lineouts and Lewis Ludlam 11.

READ MORE: Six Nations Team of the Week: Ireland wings get the nod while England and France also well represented

The article Six Nations: The seven individual stat leaders after three rounds, including most defenders beaten, metres made and tackles appeared first on Planetrugby.com.