ENGLAND
15. Mike Brown: 5
Finished an easy try but his attacking game has become remarkably one dimensional. Most of his passes are short, simple offloads, and one wild sling off his left hand proved the work that needs to be done on distribution.
14. Anthony Watson: 7
One of England’s best backs, with his quick feet often getting him out of trouble and a couple of majestic takes in the air show how far that side of his game has come.
13. Jonathan Joseph: 7
Wasn’t too much to shout about in attack but his defensive effort was on a level we’ve not seen before – 15 tackles made and none missed saw him lead the charge for what was a strong English performance in that regard.
12. Owen Farrell: 5
His indiscipline let him, and England, sorely down in the first half. He conceded three penalties in the first 15 minutes, each time with England in a promising attacking position.
11. Jack Nowell: 7
Nippier than last weekend against Italy, but not currently seeing enough ball in good situations to have an effect on the game. His cover tackle on Henshaw, however, is worth a whole point on its own.
10. George Ford: 6
Another mixed bag from the fly-half. His tactical kicking was good and at times he seemed more confident when taking the ball to the line, but there were also moments of hesitation when the space outside him was shut down. Overall, more positive than negative this week.
9. Ben Youngs: 6
Like his half-back partner, a mixed bag. Some of his darting runs are hugely underrated due to the space they can open up if a supporting runner hits the right line. But again there were a couple of wayward passes (although for the most obvious one he was not helped by the position of the shielding runners).
1. Joe Marler: 6
Mike Ross posed him a few problems at scrum time but in general the set piece was a fairly even battle. Busy in defence to finish with 11 tackles.
2. Dylan Hartley: 7
Lineout ran smoothly and his work-rate around the park was noticeably high. Also worth commending his rapport with referee Romain Poite. Despite England conceding many penalties, Hartley always remained calm – a key part of captaincy that many thought he might struggle with.
3. Dan Cole: 6.5
Played another full 80 minutes and largely held up his side of the scrum without issue. Even managed to get his hands on the ball more often than usual.
4. Maro Itoje: 7.5
Huge work rate on debut to finish with 16 tackles. Didn’t always make ground when he carried but when, on a couple of occasions, he managed to find a weak shoulder, he showed his raw power.
5. George Kruis: 8
Another sublime performance from a man who looks reborn under Jones and Borthwick. Caused havoc at the Ireland lineout and continued his aggression in the loose.
6. Chris Robshaw: 7
Gets marked up a point for the beautifully weighted pass over the top for Anthony Watson’s try – an assist of which any back would have been proud. Busy as usual in defence.
7. James Haskell: 5.5
Hugely aggressive and a lot of the time it paid off as he sapped the Irish attack of momentum behind the gainline. But his yellow card came at a vital stage of the match and although it may not have proved costly in the end, it certainly could have been.
8. Billy Vunipola: 9
A stunning performance. Consistently smashed his way over Irishmen to finish with nine defenders beaten and 94 metres made from a whopping 17 carries. When he carries this powerfully and effectively, there’s really no need for an offloading game.
Replacements: 6
Danny Care upped the tempo and while his yellow card was cynical, it was probably also necessary. Mako Vunipola was again conspicuous with his carrying from the bench, although he was lucky not to have his scrummaging examined by Mike Ross. The rest of the substitutes had little time or opportunity to do anything other than close out the game.
IRELAND
15. Rob Kearney: 5.5
Strong under the high ball, as we know him to be, but – in a similar vein to Mike Brown – you never felt like he was threatening to do a great deal of damage on the counter attack.
14. Andrew Trimble: 6
It was a pretty quiet afternoon for the Irish wingers, who despite seeing more ball than their English counterparts, could never quite find any incision into the English defence.
13. Robbie Henshaw: 8
Comfortably the most dangerous back on the pitch. A couple of scything breaks tested England’s scramble defence to the max. Only denied a try by a stunning covering tackle from Nowell.
12. Stuart McCloskey: 6
A solid if unspectacular debut. Looked a little sluggish at times but he will adapt to the pace of international rugby in time.
11. Keith Earls: 6
For Earls, read Trimble. Moved into the centre late on with Zebo’s introduction, but didn’t really see any increase in ball.
10. Johnny Sexton: 5.5
A busy performance from Sexton but he must in large part carry the can for another week that the Irish backline just didn’t fire. The wrap-around move that it so loves is tired and easily readable – someone needs to breathe fresh life into the Irish attack and soon.
9. Conor Murray: 7
A smartly taken try and some snappy service – it was largely a good afternoon for the scrum-half.
1. Jack McGrath: 6.5
Looked to have the upper hand over Cole early on, but by the time he exited the game, that battle was pretty much on an even keel.
2. Rory Best: 6
The lineout did not go to plan, and while it is always unfair to lay the blame solely at the hooker’s door in these situations, Best must take some of the blame. Made some key contributions at the breakdown, however.
3. Mike Ross: 6.5
His influence at the scrum was only laid bare once he had left the pitch, and it suddenly started going backwards. At the age of 36, it is a real worry how important he is to Ireland’s set piece.
4. Donnacha Ryan: 7
Huge work-rate from Ryan to get through 18 tackles in the time that he was on the pitch. One of Ireland’s better forward performers.
5. Devin Toner: 5.5
As the senior second row, he has to help Rory Best in carrying the can for the lineout shambles. Outplayed in the loose by his English counterparts.
6. CJ Stander: 6
Nowhere near as influential as the previous two games as he was likely targeted by a physical English back-row. One hit by Vunipola could be felt from the stands.
7. Josh van der Flier: 6.5
Ireland’s other debutant in the run on side had a similarly solid but unspectacular debut – although he did rattle through the tackles, finishing with 15.
8. Jamie Heaslip: 5
While Vunipola carried to great effect near the ruck, Heaslip was often found in the wider channels – which is fine, provided you can make your carries in those areas count. Too often, he couldn’t.
Replacements: 6
Ultan Dillane was a wondrously powerful presence from the bench and must be in line to start against Italy and Scotland at home. Nathan White, however, struggled to fill Mike Ross’ presence at the set piece, while none of the other replacements could sufficiently influence Ireland’s attempts at chasing the game.
By Jamie Hosie
Follow Jamie on Twitter: @jhosie43
Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images
26 replies on “Six Nations 2016: England vs Ireland Player Ratings”
On the England side of things, I agree pretty much to a man – although I thought Hartley tired towards the end and was noticeably worse in the final quarter, he probably should have been removed earlier and his rating should suffer.
It will be interesting to see how Eddie Jones approaches the Wales game. Considering our last meeting, I’m hoping Jones realises he must FINISH with his strongest team, and perhaps not start with it.
For example, if Jones starts with Jamie George and gets a good 50 minutes out of him, he can bring his captain on for the last 30 (when he may be needed more), and hopefully against tired bodies he can stand out more. Being fresher should also help with his decision making.
Jones could also start with Hill, because as well as Cole is playing, bringing him on in the last 30 against Gethin Jenkins could lead to a spate of scrum penalties that could kill any momentum Wales try to build. Even if Hill were to struggle, Jones could bring on Cole in the first half if necessary to steady things up. But Cole loses his effectiveness a little if he’s on for the whole 80.
For this reason, I’d like to see England go with:
Marler, George, Hill, Launchbury, Kruis, Robshaw, Haskell, Vunipola, Youngs, Ford, Nowell, Farrell, Joseph, Watson, Brown.
Hartley, Vunipola, Cole, Itoje, Clifford, Care, Tuilagi, Daly.
As well as having Hartley and Cole come on to turn the screw at the set-piece, I’d bring on Itoje and Clifford as flankers and the 3 backs are all potential game-breakers. Mako benches again as I think he might struggle against Lee, and his carrying game might be useful in the last 20.
Brookes is fit. time to drop Hill not promote him.
Also I disagree with your premise.
The reason that the subs are so effective is that the best players have worn out the opposition. No point putting 2nd choice players up against 1st choice ones or by the final 20-30 minutes when the subs come on you will be behind on the score board and chasing the game
I’d argue that at current Jamie George is playing as well, if not better, than Hartley. Hartley is definitely not an 80 minute player, he has struggled going into the last 20, and the question is do you want him on for the last 20? If you do, he can’t start.
Brookes coming back is good news, and if fit he will probably come back into the 23 – I had him as a starter before his injury.
I understand your point, however I think playing Wales at home is different to playing Australia away (when I would not advocate this strategy!) I think having Robshaw and Haskell at 6 and 7 and Ford and Farrell at 10 and 12 can help us contain Wales and stay in the game by kicking our goals, before looking to pull away in the last 20/30.
If you feel the game slipping early on, you can also make your changes earlier. But I think the way to evolve this team
As far as Hooker is concerned I think George is the better player. However I would still keep things as they are but start bringing George on after 50 mins to give him a longer run than his current 20. The real question is around who takes the captains armband in those final 30 minutes when Hartley goes off. I think it has been passed to Farrell so far which I am happy with in terms of making the right decisions.
For me Itoje was a eight did a fair bit of work at the breakdown including a turnover which England then butchered.
Haskell a bit on the low side as the yellow card was very contentious but to a man I agree with the rest especially Mike Brown.
Ben Youngs was dreadful. Should be a 3/10. He was even worse than his game against Italy. Praising his ‘darting runs’ completely misses the point. How often do they actually put runners away? He was doing it after every single ruck and those 5 steps he infuriatingly takes nearly butchered Watson’s try! Thankfully the ball went backwards from his idiotic blunder. He’s slow to every breakdown. Slow to get the ball away. Passes to above the head or at the knees. No wonder Ford has no space to work in. He’s useless in his current form, worse, a liability.
Completely disagree with that. I think you may be the one that is completely missing the point with his darts. It isn’t about constantly putting people in holes, unfortunately test match rugby is harder than that. What he does do is allow runners to consistently get over the gainline, him holding defenders for even a split second allows our forward runners to hit their shoulder/arm as opposed to being lined up. So invaluable.
On him being slow to the breakdown, I think the issue was more with the breakdown than him, often we had players isolated or one man trying to secure our attacking ball. Makes it impossible for him to do much with it.
Agree that his passing was poor though which is very unlike him.
“Agree that his passing was poor though which is very unlike him.” – what are you on about? His passing has always been the weakest part of his game. You’re giving him far too much credit, he’s far too slow in thought and execution and it’s put England under huge pressure two weeks in a row. It’s no surprise we look more threatening the instant Care comes on and fires out quick passes from the base of every ruck. How you can defend Youngs’ 39 steps before every pass is beyond me. He’s killing our backline with his slow delivery.
Probably should have worded that more as, his passing was poorer than usual that it being unlike him. Agree that his passing is the weakest part of his game but the standard of his passing on Saturday was not the norm for him.
The reason Care looked snappier was that the ball was available much quicker. He came on at a time when Ireland’s pack were tiring after making a crazy amounts of tackles first half. Ball was much quicker later in the game, as it is in most games as they progress. Same happened against Italy, they completely fell apart defensively and Care could roam free.
Ben Youngs was awful
Some decent ratings from people who know what they’re talking about. http://forum.planetrugby.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=70846
“Just £$%$£% dreadful.”
“I feel a 2 for youngs is a bit generous…”
“Youngs is so bad. ”
“Youngs was appalling. He blew chance after chance with is dilly dallying at the back of the breakdown.”
“I could barely believe how poor Youngs was; not just the lack of speed of thought and pass behind the rucks, but the lack of accuracy was truly appalling and, of itself, stopped several promising attacks in their tracks.”
“When youngs snipes and tucks the ball under one arm, it’s quite unbelievable. What the f**k is he doing?”
Think Robshaw is should be down a point, even with that nice pass. Also think Haskell’s card was unbelievably harsh and I’d have had him as a 7.5 if it wasn’t for that – so I’ll go 7!
Haskell and Robshaw appear to be doing quite similar jobs. Both high tackle counts and both high ruck counts but neither offer much more. At the moment though, Haskell’s hits are far bigger and he also carried very well on Saturday.
Would have Cole a point higher. Won a massive scrum late on against a fresh Cian Healy when he was already on for 75 minutes.
Don’t think Haskell carried that well – he made 6m off 7 runs (compred to 13 from 9 for Robshaw). He really should be making more metres given the size of him
His tackling was great, until he got tired towards the end
Robshaw’s pass was more than nice, it was superb, creating a try out of a situation that looked like it was breaking down. Any 10 would have been proud of that pass, let alone a 6
Still, there isn’t much to choose between them other than Haskell tackles harder and Robshaw is less likely to get sent off for something silly
I agree with you Jacob about both Haskell and Cole. I think Haskell is bringing real “nasty” to the forward effort, and Cole at last looks like the forward he was before he hurt his neck. I really don´t think Youngs is playing well at the moment, he seems to have developed a sideways hitch of the feet and withdrawal of the hands which is making his service slow. Care certainly looks much sharper, and I would like to see Joe Simpson given a chance on the bench when he´s fit. Ford is still not firing on all cylinders and Farrell was as petulant as usual, but I would probably go for continuity at 10 and 12 against Wales. The idea that they might bring Tuilagi straight back with as little rugby under his belt as he has had fills me with foreboding.
Don’t think Youngs was great on Saturday by the way. I largely agree with Jamie’s post. His passing off the floor was poor, which is an important part of his job. But he kicked well and I thought his darting runs did a decent job of allowing our ball carriers time to run decent angles and hit weaker shoulders. Below average performance overall but not the disaster some have suggested.
On his passing, he wasn’t helped by our breakdown work. I like Care but he came on and straight away sent a kick too long, and I’d worry in what will be an attritional game against Wales if we had to rely on him kicking often.
I actually think Care plays better when he starts a game. He seems to try too hard when he comes off the bench. HIs kicking has improved, and his passing has always been better than Youngs. It’s a tough one, but I would start Care against Wales, mainly because I think he would do a better job of winding up Gareth Davies.
Hmm, I think his kicking game is too poor for early in a game. And early in the game, ball tends to be slower out of the breakdown anyway so some of his natural zip is taken away. Youngs steps then make a bit more of slower ball than simply passing off the floor, meaning Care can come on and use his passing game a little more when we’re naturally securing slightly quicker ball.
Controversial I know but you don’t actually have to play both the scrum halves in your match day squad they are more than capable of playing 80 as they are rarely involved heavily in contact and the tight
It’s usually for tactical reasons. Youngs and Care are quite different players, and bring different perspectives to the position.
So if we start Care as per your suggestion above. Tactically would you bring on Youngs to slow the game down in the final 20?
If Billy’s performance wasn’t a 10 I don’t know what is
One thing I would say, and it really is harsh saying anything when his performance was so good – I’d love it if he could offload. A few times he’d made a half break and had players on his should with his arms relatively free and didn’t. If he could add that to his game he could elevate himself to a whole different level.
I would agree with most of these scores, but I think a 5 for Farrell is a bit harsh as he still played better than Ford. Also surprised to see Brown get a 5, as I thought he was by some distance our worst player.
For the Welsh game I would start with swap Marler and Youngs for Mako and Care as in the Italy game. I would also be tempted to leave Brown out and have JJ on the wing, Daly at 13 and Watson at 15. Or start Goode at 15 with Daly on the bench to cover the centre & back three slots. I would not be sticking Tuilagi in for the Welsh game as I don’t think he’s completely ready yet.
Why not just change the whole team, just for the fun of it.
I think farewells rating is harsh, it was his miss pass that put brown in and he kicked well from the tee
I think Itoje deserves at least an 8 and I don’t kno
However, (and I know nobody seems to care about Ireland here) but Sexton was imperious. He had a superb game. I really don’t know if this rating is based on. He made three cleans breaks, kicked everything and made on handling error (and he was probably still a bit shaken from the legit but hard hit hard youngs). His defence was also excellent. He did a better of tackling Vunipola that most of our pack.