Robbie Henshaw's try against England capped a fine fantasy week © Scrum.com

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A sense of anticipation resembling a tight cup round heightened the atmosphere around the weekend's games, and the three ties - top of the Six Nations against second, third v fourth and fifth up against sixth - fully lived up to expectations.

Top fantasy points - Overall

• 32 - George Ford*
• 28 - Jonathan Joseph
• 27 - Camille Lopez*
• 23 - Leigh Halfpenny*
• 21 - Conor Murray
• 20 - Jonny Sexton*
• * denotes kickers

Experience counted in Dublin where Ireland, 544 to 361 starting caps and on average nearly three years a man older, edged England. Even so, it was Robbie Henshaw, the youngest member of Ireland's match-day squad, who collected most fantasy points this weekend. A try, the man-of-the-match award and a full 80-minute shift scored him 13 points.

Tight physical matches usually yield tight fantasy spreads and the non-kickers trailing Henshaw were closely bunched. Brice Dulin, Josh Furno and Luke McLean gathered eight fantasy points while Morgan Parra, Mark Bennett, Dan Biggar and Giovanbattista Venditti chipped in with seven. Conor Murray and Dan Lydiate were next, scoring six including an assist each.

For the first time this year none of the man-of-the-match awards went to a main kicker, though Parra (the Paris recipient) did have an unsuccessful shot after Camille Lopez had twice fired wide in the first half.

Lopez, however, was the most valuable kicker of the weekend. He's the marksman named in barely 4% of teams, yet he gathered another nine fantasy points from an 80-minute performance that included three goals and an assist for Brice Dulin's try. Leigh Halfpenny, his adversary off the tee, earned eight points from a match-winning full shift for Wales that included five goals from six attempts.

Team of the round

• Front row: Dan Cole (Eng, 3pts), Mike Ross (Ire, 2), Rory Best (Ire, 2)
• Second row: Joshua Furno (Ita, 8), George Kruis (Eng, 3)
• Back row: Dan Lydiate (Wal, 6), Thierry Dusautoir (Fra, 3), Chris Robshaw (Eng, 3)
• Scrum-half: Morgan Parra (Fra, 7)
• Fly-half: Camille Lopez (Fra, 9)
• Centres: Robbie Henshaw (Ire, 13), Mark Bennett (Sco, 7)
• Outside backs: Brice Dulin (Fra, 8), Luke McLean (Ita, 8), Leigh Halfpenny (Wal, 8)

Jonny Sexton won Sunday's much anticipated match up with George Ford. Despite missing a kick for the first time this season, the Irishman gathered five more fantasy kicking points before Joe Schmidt was forced to take him off due to a hamstring injury after 52 minutes. Ford, whose points included only the second dropped goal so far this season, advanced to the top of the overall fantasy list.

Elsewhere, Scotland's Greig Laidlaw kicked on with five off the tee before, with his side leading 19-15 with five minutes to go, he was surprisingly subbed at Murrayfield. That reduced his fantasy potential by a point leaving him with seven - like Sexton - from the weekend.

What we've learnt

That Jonny Sexton is human

Ireland's Mr Consistency went into Sunday's match against England with a 100% kicking record (5/5) in this season's Six Nations.

Sexton landed his first three penalties in Dublin before missing one just before half-time. It ended a run of 13 successful kicks in Test matches dating back to the first half of Ireland's win against Australia last November.

That Vern Cotter subs his key player before the death

Scotland have lost all their matches by one-score margins, yet Cotter has substituted Greig Laidlaw - scrum-half, place-kicker, captain and arguably his most influential player - in the dying minutes of every game.

The Scots were never behind while Laidlaw was at the helm on Saturday. He was subbed in the 75th minute … then they lost.