A bad day for Ireland
France ran rampant in the second half with three tries in 12 minutes to beat Ireland 42-27 in the Six Nations at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Ireland will be disappointed over the margin of defeat, but even more so because they could not give Peter O’Mahony, Cian Healy, and Conor Murray the Dublin send off they deserved.
Our full Ireland player ratings are below.
Ireland player ratings:
Andrew Porter – 6.5
Like most of the pack, did not have much of an impact, but did not do too much wrong.
Dan Sheehan – 6
Had some of the better moments of the Irish forwards, but a few too many errors.
Finlay Bealham – 6.5
See Porter.
Joe McCarthy – 5
Was the stand-out forward in the loose along with Doris, but his jersey pull which led to his sin binning and a French try was completely needless and very costly.
Tadhg Beirne – 6.5
The least impactful performance he has had in a long, long while.
Peter O’Mahony – 6.5
There were a fair few fans on social media unhappy with some of his charge downs.
The last home game for one of Ireland’s greats.
Josh van der Flier – 6.5
His usual workhorse display.
Caelan Doris – 8
Comfortably Ireland’s best player.
Was everywhere, and kept Ireland in the game in the first half with some huge turnovers.
Jamison Gibson-Park – 7
Stood up once again, and was key in a lot of Ireland’s good play at the start of the match when they were on top.
Sam Prendergast – 5
Possibly a slightly harsh rating as his poorest pieces of play were while the game was done and dusted.
An intercept with the try line at the team’s mercy is every 10’s worst nightmare.
Slotted a superb penalty in the first half.
Jamie Osborne – 6.5
A very solid performance.
Adds size to the wing and had some good clearances.
Bundee Aki – 6.5
Was unable to make much of an impact with Ireland on the back foot for most of the game.
Robbie Henshaw – 6
A few errors from the outside centre, and showed a lack of pace and guile when he was in a good try-scoring position in the second half.
Calvin Nash – 6
Started the game superbly but was unable to get much going after that.
Hugo Keenan – 7.5
Solid as usual in the air and in the back field, and looked like Ireland’s most dangerous back.
Replacements:
Rob Herring – 6
Cian Healy – 7
Thomas Clarkson – 6
James Ryan – 6
Jack Conan – 7.5
Ryan Baird – 6
Conor Murray – 6.5
Jack Crowley – 6.5
