France scrum-half Antoine Dupont has been named Guinness Six Nations Player of the Championship for the third time.
Dupont polled 26 per cent of the 138,000 fans who voted, adding the award to his successes of 2020 and 2022 to become only the second player alongside Brian O’Driscoll to complete a hat-trick of wins.
Also on the shortlist were his Les Bleus’ team-mates Thomas Ramos and Damian Penaud and Ireland’s Caelan Doris, Hugo Keenan and Mack Hansen.
Dupont was outstanding at the back end of the tournament, especially in the record victory over England at Twickenham in round four.
The 26-year-old France skipper has been acclaimed despite his side finishing runners up behind Grand Slam winners Ireland.
Andy Farrell’s champions supply 10 players to the team of the tournament, including the entire pack except Les Bleus lock Thibaud Flament.
