Ireland v Italy: Player Ratings

Principal Skinner

15: Rob Kearney - Solid game, one brilliant catch early on but was never really targeted thereafter. Tends to run straight into a line of players rather than passing or cutting lines - 7

14: Tommy Bowe - Really good game, worked very hard off the ball to offer an offloading option, unlucky not to score 1 if not 2 tries - 8

13: Brian O'Driscoll - Solid in defense as always, took his try well with a great supporting line - 7

12: Gordon D'Arcy - Best game in a green jersey in a while, tackled well all day and one great run to set up earls for his try - 8

11: Keith Earls - Took his two tries well, solid all game, didn't get a chance to make the breaks we all know he can but showed his finishing ability - 8

10: Ronan O'gara - Assured display from kicking tee, strangely from him he didn't kick well at out of hand and hasn't all tournament - 7

9: Conor Murray - Thrown in at the deep end and coped admirably, few fumbles at base of ruck but we'll put it down to inexperience - 7

8: Jamie Heaslip - Best game of world cup so far, monster in defense as always and showed his ground hog skills as well, always prepared to carry - 8

7: Sean O'Brien - Turning into a star of the world cup, great carrying as always. First big test next week against an out and out 7 though - 8

6: Stephen Ferris - Absolutely brilliant yet again, works so hard for the team in defense and attack, a force of nature and I thought he deserved MOTM - 9

5: Paul O'Connell - Led from the front, carried well and defended well - 7

4: Donnacha O'Callaghan - Overshadowed by his partner, anonymous at times - 6

3: Mike Ross - A rock at scrum time, works hard around the pitch but scrums are where he comes into his own - 7

2: Rory Best - One of Irelands players of the risks cup, big loss if he's out for rest of tournament - 7

1: Cian Healy - Struggled at times in scrum but regained composer when castrogiovanni left the field - 6

Principal Skinner

Principal Skinner wrote: »

15: Rob Kearney - Solid game, one brilliant catch early on but was never really targeted thereafter. Tends to run straight into a line of players rather than passing or cutting lines - 7

14: Tommy Bowe - Really good game, worked very hard off the ball to offer an offloading option, unlucky not to score 1 if not 2 tries - 8

13: Brian O'Driscoll - Solid in defense as always, took his try well with a great supporting line - 7

12: Gordon D'Arcy - Best game in a green jersey in a while, tackled well all day and one great run to set up earls for his try - 8

11: Keith Earls - Took his two tries well, solid all game, didn't get a chance to make the breaks we all know he can but showed his finishing ability - 8

10: Ronan O'gara - Assured display from kicking tee, strangely from him he didn't kick well at out of hand and hasn't all tournament - 7

9: Conor Murray - Thrown in at the deep end and coped admirably, few fumbles at base of ruck but we'll put it down to inexperience - 7

8: Jamie Heaslip - Best game of world cup so far, monster in defense as always and showed his ground hog skills as well, always prepared to carry - 8

7: Sean O'Brien - Turning into a star of the world cup, great carrying as always. First big test next week against an out and out 7 though - 8

6: Stephen Ferris - Absolutely brilliant yet again, works so hard for the team in defense and attack, a force of nature and I thought he deserved MOTM - 9

5: Paul O'Connell - Led from the front, carried well and defended well - 7

4: Donnacha O'Callaghan - Overshadowed by his partner, anonymous at times - 6

3: Mike Ross - A rock at scrum time, works hard around the pitch but scrums are where he comes into his own - 7

2: Rory Best - One of Irelands players of the risks cup, big loss if he's out for rest of tournament - 7

1: Cian Healy - Struggled at times in scrum but regained composer when castrogiovanni left the field - 6

Lot of remarks about Kearney running into contact. Unless I'm very mistaken - I'd imagine Kearney was told to run into contact on the openside, draw in 2/3 tacklers and release the ball. He did this really well and it worked to give us a strong starting platform with Murray favouring the blindside.

DOC - had a big game, worked very hard and forced two penalties one of which most likely prevented a trial. He was a 7 at least.

Cian Healy could have been given man of the match just for keeping his head. Was targeted throughout the game and gave those around him more space as a result.

Very hard to rate players that sacrafice individual performances to give the team as a whole greater traction in opponenets half. Don't tend to "rate" player ratings as a result.

bamboozle

i'd have given bowe 9.5, a match fit Bowe makes such a difference to our back-line, he goes looking for work, supports carriers in the center and as a result we see more try scoring opportunities.

Perfect try in first half was disallowed where he was on the shoulder to receive the pass that was deemed forward

set up BOD's try with his incision through the center

excellent performance.

totallegend

bamboozle wrote: »

i'd have given bowe 9.5, a match fit Bowe makes such a difference to our back-line, he goes looking for work, supports carriers in the center and as a result we see more try scoring opportunities.

Perfect try in first half was disallowed where he was on the shoulder to receive the pass that was deemed forward

set up BOD's try with his incision through the center

excellent performance.

+ 1 on that. The difference between Earls, who was good, and Bowe, who was excellent, was Bowe coming in off his wing; the break for O'Driscoll's try and for the O'Brien-Bowe "forward pass" both came from this. I'd give Bowe an 8 or 9. Showed great determination and energy for the kick and chase upfield at the end, he was robbed by the video ref.

Other players;
Kearney: 8 Did the defensive work very well and always sucked in two or three defenders.
BOD: 7 Quiet going forward but ran a great line for his try
D'Arcy: 8 Was good against Australia but back to his best yesterday, made a lot of yards and tackled well.
Earls: 7 Finished his opportunities but needs to get more involved (see above).
ROG: 7 Did exactly what Kidney would have asked of him but maybe his kicking out of hand wasn't at its best
Murray: 7 Nervy first-half but a very reassured second
Healy: 6 Quieter in the loose but got parity in the scrum so job done
Best: 8 Another great showing; could be a massive loss
Ross: 6 Struggled a bit when the Italians shuffled their front row?
O'Connell: 7 I don't think he was fully fit but he gave it everything
O'Callaghan: 5 Prettty anonymous, conceded penalties
Ferris: 9 Awesome to watch, no real opportunity to carry but he hit everything that moved
SOB: 9 As for Ferris, except he did carry
Heaslip: 8 Most improved player this week, has revamped his game to give the backrow more shape and won some great turnovers.

Replacements; the game was won by the time most of them saw action. Trimble's cameo for Earls' try shows he's been the hardest-done by of any of the bench players, while Sexton nailing that last kick will hopefully get his head where it needs to be.

davegrohl48

With Kearney I like the fact that we have guaranteed yards back against the opposition when they kick to us. He doesn't look to setup passing moves, it would seem that he is instructed to go to ground and setup the next phase.
But if you look at where he starts and where he finishes it is often well beyond the first defender and the ball is usually not turned over.
Also with the boot he is pretty handy and is one of the surest pair of hands around.
You won't see any Muiliani type runs but he'll usually contribute in a big way to us playing the game in the oppositions half of the pitch especially with our backrow able to move posession on after Kearney goes to ground.

Fishooks12

Kearney: 7/10: approaching his best with every game he plays, excellent under the high ball.

Bowe: 8/10: Wrongly denied two tries and was an ever present threat to the Italian line.

Brian O Driscoll: 7/10: A rock in defence and picked an excellent line off Bowes shoulder for the opening try

Gordan Darcy: 8/10: A Darcy performance of old, ran over a few Italians and made ground at nearly every opportunity

Keith Earls: 8/10: A marker of how will Earls is playing is his ability to keep Andrew Trimble wearing 22. Two well finished tries for the birthday boy.

Ronan O' Gara: 8/10: Nearly flawless with the boot and pinned Italy back when we didn't field position most. A master class in game management. The pressure of Sexton on the bench has seen him play closer to the gainline in the loose too.

Conor Murray: 7/10: Some careless moments were over-shadowed by his huge physicality and ever present sniping threat

Jamie Heaslip: 7:10: less of the reluctant side stepping seen in recent games and more direct running. Huge presence at the break down

Stephan Ferris: 8/10: More effective ball carrying and another memorable hit when he smashed Castro Giovani in the opening 15 minutes

Sean O Brien:8/10: Was contained for the first 20 minutes but escaped like a rampaging Bull in the second half. Best ball carrier in the world at the moment

POC:7/10: Carried well and was flawless in the air

DOC: 6.5/10: Huge workrate as ever but was lucky not to be sent to the bin midway through the first half

Mike Ross: 8/10 Huge again, destroyed the Italian scrum in the second half.

Rory Best:7/10: Forced off with injury 14 minutes into second half but was crucial to Irelands dominance in the scrum before that

Cian Healy: 9/10: Targeted numerous times by some of the more cynical Italian players and shook it all off with a smile. Was getting on top of a fascinating battle with Castro-Giovani before the Italian withdrew

Fishooks12

totallegend wrote: »

+ 1 on that. The difference between Earls, who was good, and Bowe, who was excellent, was Bowe coming in off his wing; the break for O'Driscoll's try and for the O'Brien-Bowe "forward pass" both came from this. I'd give Bowe an 8 or 9. Showed great determination and energy for the kick and chase upfield at the end, he was robbed by the video ref.


Ross: 6 Struggled a bit when the Italians shuffled their front row?

What game were you watching?? Ross was utterly dominant after the Italians reshuffled. We won 2 or 3 penalties off their put in.

totallegend

Fishooks12 wrote: »

What game were you watching?? Ross was utterly dominant after the Italians reshuffled. We won 2 or 3 penalties off their put in.

Siiigh. Does everything have to turn into a row these days? We had a five metre scrum when Kearney was held up over the try line; the Italians won it back and cleared so no, he wasn't utterly dominant.

I'm not criticising Ross, just saying that we weren't as completely superior in all departments as you would think reading reports.

.ak

totallegend wrote: »

Siiigh. Does everything have to turn into a row these days? We had a five metre scrum when Kearney was held up over the try line; the Italians won it back and cleared so no, he wasn't utterly dominant.

I'm not criticising Ross, just saying that we weren't as completely superior in all departments as you would think reading reports.

I'd have to put the blame on Best for that one. He didn't hook the ball in correctly, assuming because he thought both sides went up.

irishbucsfan

.ak wrote: »

I'd have to put the blame on Best for that one. He didn't hook the ball in correctly, assuming because he thought both sides went up.

It was Cronin's fault. Only his second scrum though to be fair and we won a penalty on his first which actually gave us the field position in the first place.

MungBean

.ak wrote: »

I'd have to put the blame on Best for that one. He didn't hook the ball in correctly, assuming because he thought both sides went up.

Best wasnt even on. Cronin came up and couldnt hook it back and eventually got knocked to the Italian side.

Fishooks12

totallegend wrote: »

Siiigh. Does everything have to turn into a row these days? We had a five metre scrum when Kearney was held up over the try line; the Italians won it back and cleared so no, he wasn't utterly dominant.

I'm not criticising Ross, just saying that we weren't as completely superior in all departments as you would think reading reports.

I think you'll find you were criticizing him if you read your rating. That was one scrum and as a previous poster said that was more than likely a bounce of bests knee and had nothing to do with Ross's scrummaging. Ross won 3 penalties against the head on his side, he destroyed the italian scrum along with Healy in the second half.

And all the pundits agree with me for a reason. Anyone with half a clue about scrummaging could tell you Ross was dominant in the second half

Cormic

It seems a lot of people are marking DOC down for giving away penalties for taking down the maul. For the first one the Italians were almost over the line. It gave them three points instead of seven. It was a big decision but one that had to be taken.

Fishooks12

Cormic wrote: »

It seems a lot of people are marking DOC down for giving away penalties for taking down the maul. For the first one the Italians were almost over the line. It gave them three points instead of seven. It was a big decision but one that had to be taken.

agree partially, wouldn't have been ideal to cough up a penalty try and a yellow though

.ak

Apologies, typo meant Cronin.