A hammering!
The Lions took on the Western Force this morning and dished out a 54-7 thrashing, with many Irish standing out.
Pierre Schoeman – 6.5
Good work rate with 10 tackles, but didn’t dominate at scrum and didn’t offer a carry threat.
Dan Sheehan – 7.5
Could not have had a more perfect start, brilliantly touching Finn Russell’s cross-field to James Lowe, before taking the offload from his Ireland teammate and touching down after one minute.
Lineout was better as well.
Tadhg Furlong – 6.5
A sight for sore eyes to see him complete 48 minutes.
Having said that, is still not fully fit, and had a similar game to Schoeman.
Did show flashes of his brilliant hands.
Scott Cummings – 5.5
Not a great outing for the big Scot.
Dropped at least three kick-offs, but did chip in with 12 tackles.
Joe McCarthy – 8
A great performance in the tight, and made so many important interventions and one or two metre carries to get his side over the gain line.
A deserved Player of the Match.
Tadhg Beirne – 6.5
Wasn’t poor by any means, but for a second game in a row is far from the player we have seen throughout the year.
He looked nailed on to start the tests, but his position is under threat.
Josh van der Flier – 8
Made a ridiculous 21 tackles, the most of any player on the field.
His offload help set up Tomos Williams’ first score, stopped a try just before half-time, and made 45 metres.
Has overtaken Tom Curry and Jac Morgan in the pecking order.
Henry Pollock – 8
Passed to VDF before taking the offload straight after and threw a brilliant one of his own for Williams to touch down.
Tomos Williams – 7.5
A few poor passes and didn’t kick as well as Mitchell did last week.
But he was quick and his support play gave him two tries.
Finn Russell – 8
Would have scored higher if the opposition was stronger. This was easy mode for him.
Cross-field set up his side’s first try when they were going nowhere, and showed superb awareness for Elliot Daly’s first score with a tap-and-go, dummy, and offload.
Kicked at goal well.
James Lowe – 8
Has nearly cemented his test place after that performance.
Offload set up the first try and he was key in the Lions’ end-to-end second-half score which was finished by Williams.
His boot is invaluable.
Sione Tuipulotu – 7.5
Another good showing, with some nice passing and kicking, and set up the final try.
The centre slots are still up for grabs, however.
Garry Ringrose – 7
Tackled ferociously, and often the Western Force took advantage of his line speed, but it was hard to tell who was at fault.
Mack Hansen – 7.5
Talk about a turn around in fortunes.
Failed to make an impact in attack in the first half, and dropped two crucial balls in good positions.
In the second he initiated Williams’ second, assisted Ringrose for his try, and showed remarkable work rate to stifle a Force attack and chase hard straight after.
Elliot Daly – 8
If you were to describe his performance in one word, it would be a toss up between flawless and classy.
Was so assured in the backfield, scoring two tries, and setting up Ringrose’s score with brilliant hands.
The talk about the test 15 was all about Hugo Keenan and Blair Kinghorn. Daly has now entered the chat.
Replacements:
Rónan Kelleher – 7
Andrew Porter – 7
Will Stuart – 6.5
Ollie Chessum – 6.5
Jack Conan – 7
Alex Mitchell – 7
Huw Jones – 6.5
Marcus Smith – 6.5
