15 Felix Jones – 6
Had a cracking first half, but showed some nerves early in the second half, slicing a ball into touch on the full. Extremely unlucky to fall awkwardly on his ankle while contesting for a high ball, unfortunately his World Cup is over before it began.
14 Andrew Trimble – 6
For the third game running, Trimble has looked in good form, always looking for work and using his physicality to break the line.
13 Brian O’Driscoll – 6
Seemed to take a little too much on himself rather than distribute the ball a bit earlier. Utterly committed at the breakdown put his body on the line, to the gasps of the Irish supporters.
12 Gordon D’Arcy – 5
In his first game back since the Heineken Cup final, D’Arcy was off the pace and didn’t manage any line breaks. Rougerie and Heyman sliced D’Arcy and O’Driscoll open for their well taken try.
11 Keith Earls – 5
While providing a real attacking threat early on, when things started to go down-hill, panic set in. In his defence, the centers were drifting too far wide and not offloading earlier giving the wingers almost no room to operate in.
10 Jonathan Sexton – 6
Had a decent game, showed some great defensive play, was moved into center when ROG replaced D’Arcy. Acquitted himself well, was rewarded for his hard work with a try in the second half.
9 Tomas O’Leary – 2
Started brightly, great speed on the pass, nice distribution. Fell apart after the first 20 minutes, one brainfart after the next. One could be forgiven for thinking he doesn’t like New Zealand!?
1 Cian Healy – 7
Good performance from Healy, always looked lively in the loose and performed well in the scrum. Gave Kidney heart failure as he limped off the field with what turns out to be a bruised foot!
2 Rory Best – 6
Set-pieces were much improved this week for Ireland and the hooker is integral to that, seemed much more at ease and confident this week and it showed in his throwing.
3 Mike Ross – 6
Ross’ main job is the scrummage well, and that he did, His fist XV spot is nailed on and he knows it!
4 Donncha O’Callaghan – 5
Quiet day for O’Callaghan, claimed a couple of lineout balls and setup a nice rolling maul. Not sure if he has done enough to warrant a first XV spot?
5 Paul O’Connell – 7
Best 80 minutes Paul O’Connell has put in since returning from his long injury lay-off, Seemed willing to carry the ball more and was the decoy in the lineout all day. Needed to settle the team on the half-hour mark, instead they collectively lost the run of themselves.
6 Sean O’Brien – 7
The Tullow-Tank rolls on, great performance. Made more runs and tackles than anyone else on the team and was rewarded with a late try.
7 Shane Jennings – 3
Metres run with ball: 1, Tackles made: 1, 60minutes of ball-watching. Looked out of his depth.
8 Jamie Heaslip – 5
Went missing in the second half for long periods of time, Was partially to blame for O’Leary’s gift of a try to Trinh-Duc. Worked well in the lineout claiming two throws.
Replacements
16 Jerry Flannery – 6
Keeps the tempo of the game up, his throw-ins are quick and accurate. Needs to get a hearing aid to avoid being penalised for not using the ball.
17 Tom Court – 5
Pretty anonymous around the park but held the scrum together well.
18 Mike McCarthy – Not on long enough for rating
19 Stephen Ferris – 6
Delighted to see Ferris come through his 20 minutes, some nice carries and huge collisions, his trademark.
20 Eoin Reddan – 5
While O’Leary was diabolical, Reddan didn’t offer much more in attack, but managed not to make the same amount of mistakes as his counterpart!
21 Ronan O’Gara – 6
Actually combined quite well with Sexton in the center, A combination that I doubt will be repeated any time soon however!
22 Luke Fitzgerald – 6
Much improved performance from Fitzgerald, made beautiful runs from deep to setup both Sexton and O’Brien’s try’s.
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