The penultimate round of this year's RBS 6 Nations was a rich one for the forwards, who scored seven tries -- more than in any other round to date -- and claimed two man-of-the-match (MoM) awards while, with only a week remaining, pack members shine brightly among the leading lights.

Second-row Donnacha Ryan picked up the MoM honours in Ireland's overwhelming defeat of Italy in Dublin, but it was Jamie Heaslip who finished as the weekend's most-valuable player overall. The number eight crossed twice, put in an 80-minute shift and picked up a bonus for making ten tackles.

In the battle of England's Billy Vunipola and Taulupe Faletau of Wales, it was the Welshman who came out on top 11-4 to stay near the summit of the leaders-board. However, Maro Itoje stole the show at Twickenham: the classy 21-year-old earned 11 fantasy match-day points (MDPs), including five for MoM honours.

France captain Guilhem Guirado led from the front in a losing cause at Murrayfield and scored his second try of the campaign, earning 10 points. He stands top of the forwards with a total of 33 after four rounds, one clear of Heaslip and two ahead of Faletau.

It was a good weekend for the kickers: at Twickenham, all 10 kicks at goal were successful which included seven from seven for Owen Farrell. The Englishman is one behind Greig Laidlaw, who leads the way after landing four of his six efforts against France. Stuart Hogg kicked the longest penalty of the weekend and reaped 17 MDPs for a first-half try, an assist and a MoM performance.

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Maro Itoje of England carries the ball against Wales© Stu Forster/Getty Images

Itoje's soft hands and strong running were evident in the build-up to Anthony Watson's first-half try and his high work-rate overall made him the unanimous choice as MoM at Twickenham. He earned additional Fantasy points by stealing two early Welsh line-out throws and heading the England tackle-count.

The Sarries forward only entered the lists against Italy last month and hasn't scored for England yet, but he is no stranger to crossing the whitewash. He grabbed tries in all five of England's matches in the U-20s Six Nations tournament in 2014 before leading the side to victory at the Junior World Championships later the same year.

Italy yield the most Fantasy points

For the fourth round running the highest returns were achieved by players facing the Italians. Jamie Heaslip was the top Fantasy scorer of the weekend (20 MDPs), Virimi Vakatawa (France) headed the first round count (14 against Italy), Jonathan Joseph (England) collected 19 against Italy on the second weekend and Greig Laidlaw (Scotland) had 16 against Italy a fortnight ago. Wales face the Italians next weekend.

England know how to build winning leads

Saturday's match at Twickenham showed that England have re-discovered the way to build winning leads by keeping the scoreboard ticking over -- a skill that was a feature of their last Grand Slam in 2003 under Sir Clive Woodward.

Owen Farrell, who is the overall Fantasy points leader to date, kicked important goals in the 10th, 18th, 21st, 33rd and 46th minutes to give England a comforting 19-0 advantage, and his further penalties in the 66th and 68th minutes were effectively the difference between the two sides after Wales made their spirited comeback in the final ten minutes.

France need a consistent goal-kicker

France have an overall place-kicking success-rate of only 59% spread among four kickers this season -- well below the standard expected at Test level. By contrast Farrell, who will kick for England in their Grand Slam bid against France next Saturday, has landed 75% of his shots at goal (18/24) to date.