The most dramatic conclusion to a Six Nations ever seen yielded an unprecedented 27 tries as Wales, Ireland and England gave it their all in a bid to be crowned champions, an honour ultimately bestowed on the men in green.

More than half of those were scored by players who have previously graced the World Rugby U20 Championship – or Junior World Championship as it was known at the time – to the test arena, showing that this age grade tournament truly does showcase the future stars of world rugby.

In total, 64 existing World RugbyU20 graduates took to the field in Rome, London, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Dublin and Paris over the last seven weekends, along with seven newcomers to their ranks and three to have graced the Championship’s sister event, the World Rugby U20 Trophy.

The top point and try scorers are both graduates in England duo George Ford and Jonathan Joseph (pictured) respectively, while eight of the 12 shortlisted for Six Nations Player of the Championship accolade this week have come through the World Rugby U20 Championship.

We delved a little deeper into the statistics to see the impact these graduates made.

  • Those on the Player of the Championship shortlist are: Dan Biggar (Wales), George Ford, Jonathan Joseph, Billy Vunipola, Ben Youngs (all England), Jonny Gray, Stuart Hogg (both Scotland) and Conor Murray (Ireland)
  • All of England’s points in the 55-35 win over France were scored by World RugbyU20 graduates, including tries by George Ford, Ben Youngs (2), Jack Nowell (2) and Billy Vunipola. Ford also kicked 20 points to finish the Six Nations with 75 points
  • Forty-two of the 62 tries scored in the 2015 Six Nations were by World RugbyU20 graduates, as were 387  (or 58.64 per cent) of the 660 points on the scoreboard
  • In four of Wales’ matches, their World RugbyU20 graduates accounted for every point scored. The exception was the 61-20 win over Italy when Jamie Roberts and George North accounted for four of Wales’ eight tries in Rome
  • England’s World RugbyU20 graduates scored all of their side’s points in three of the five matches
  • Every point in England’s 21-16 win over their RWC 2015 opponents Wales back in round one was scored by a World RugbyU20 graduate
  • Stuart Hogg’s try in Scotland’s defeat by Wales in round two was the 500th test try scored by a World RugbyU20 graduate
  • The only drop goals slotted between the posts in the 2015 Six Nations were by graduates, Welsh fly-half Biggar (2) and his English counterpart Ford
  • Of the 13 players to score more than one try in the Six Nations this year, 10 of them have graduated from the World Rugby U20 Championship and one from the U20 Trophy
  • George Ford kicked most conversions (13), while Leigh Halfpenny the most penalties (18)
  • Sam Warburton, the first U20 graduate to captain his country, surpassed Ryan Jones’s record for the most tests as Wales captain in the win over Ireland in round four
  • Leigh Halfpenny surpassed 500 test points (for Wales and the Lions) in the win over France in round three. He would have been close to hitting 500 for his country had he not been forced off with concussion in Italy, based on the kicks that Dan Biggar made in his absence 
  • Halfpenny, the Player of the 2013 Six Nations, drew level with Australia prop James Slipper as the most-capped World RugbyU20 graduate in Rome by playing in his 63rd test in total
  • The seven new World RugbyU20 graduates during the Six Nations were Sam Hidalgo-Clyne (Scotland), Loann Goujoin (France), Giulio Bisegni (Italy), Michele Visentin (Italy), Hamish Watson (Scotland), Rob Evans (Wales) and Noa Nakaitaci (France)

This year’s World Rugby U20 Championship takes place in Italy from 2-20 June when Six Nations champions England will be bidding to win a third successive world crown after beating a Handré Pollard led South Africa by a single point in 2014.