Six Nations 2016: France vs Ireland Player Ratings

FRANCE

15. Maxime Medard: 7.5
Kick well out of hand and dangerous on the counter. Lovely line for his try.

14. Teddy Thomas: 6
Saw a lot of ball but mainly whilst surrounded by three or four green shirts. Solid defence but shackled in attack.

13. Maxime Mermoz: 6.5
A good shift from Mermoz. One crucial turnover and carried hard on the gain line.

12. Jonathan Danty: 6
Another one of the French players that was never going to thrive in this type of match. No ball in space meant no real impact.

11. Virimi Vakatawa: 6
The shining star last weekend but again the conditions didn’t lend to his style of play. One half break but otherwise a passenger.

10. Jules Plisson: 7
Slowly but surely making the Number 10 jersey his own. A few basic errors but generally he marshalled his troops around the pitch well. One missed kick.

9. Sebastien Bezy: 5.5
Slow delivery and didn’t make the Irish fringe defence make a difficult decision once. His place will be under threat from Maxime Machenaud, who replaced him in the second half.

1. Jefferson Poirot: 6
Excellent in the loose, he also made ten tackles but the scrum looked much better after he was substituted.

2. Guilhem Guirado: 7.5
A real captains performance from Guirado. Seven carries and solid in his basics, he may well have blotted his copy book with his challenge on Dave Kearney. The citing commission may dictate as to whether he plays in the next match.

3. Uini Atonio: 4.5
Probably the worse player on the pitch. He conceded three penalties and never went forward in the scrum. Rightfully substituted.

4. Alexandre Flanquart: 8
Man of the match contender. He was everywhere in both attack and defence. Carried 11 times and made 12 tackles.

5. Yoann Maestri: 6.5
Solid performance from Maestri and complimented Flanquart well but his inexcusable late shot on Sexton will have not have gone unnoticed by the authorities.

6. Wenceslas Lauret: 6
A strange game from Lauret as he can offer so much in attack but he did do a lot of the hard yards off the slow ball.

7. Yacouba Camara: 7
This was Camara’s sort of game. Slow ball meant he could attack the breakdown with gusto and indeed that is what he did for the whole game.

8. Damien Chouly: 7.5
Had big boots to fill in Picamoles’ absence but undertook the task admirably. More metres gained than any of his teammates and all over Murray like a cheap suit.

Replacements: 8
This is where the game was won. Chat, Ben Arous and Slimani shored up the front row to give France the platform to gain territory and ultimately the pressure that led to the winning try, while Machenaud’s intelligent dart opened the gap for Médard to get through.

IRELAND

15. Rob Kearney: 6.5
Dependable as ever under the high ball and almost cut loose on a couple of occasions, but the ball rarely made it out to the wider channels.

14. Andrew Trimble: 6
Unlucky with a potential interception and tackled well. He was also suffocated by slow ball.

13. Jared Payne: 6.5
Never stopped trying to get the attack moving in the right direction with some variation in his kicking but his execution was just not quite accurate enough. Big defensive display with 15 tackles.

12. Robbie Henshaw: 6
Started extremely brightly and generally was Ireland’s best back, but the way he flew up out of the line for Maxime Medard’s try cost Ireland dearly and costs him points here.

11. Dave Kearney: 5
His day was cut short by a bruising hit from Guirado resulting in a shoulder injury as he attacked off a short ball.

10. Johnny Sexton: 6
Landed his kicks and looked to vary the attack as you would expect. Fearless in the tackle but was targeted by the French defence and outrageously hit with cheap, late shots. Look battered and bruised as he hobbled off with what looked like another head injury.

9. Conor Murray: 6.5
One of the Irish players to come out of this game with credit. Constantly digging in the ruck to force quick ball but mainly had to play off scraps. His box kicking wasn’t as accurate as it usually is though.

1. Jack McGrath: 6.5
Scrummaged extremely well and had the upper hand on his opposite number but was left on too long and inevitably tired as the French bench cranked up the pressure.

2. Rory Best: 5.5
Looked susceptible to faults on his own throw. Lost two lineouts but part of a dominant front row at scrum time.

3. Nathan White: 6
Another that had a long day at the coal face. His most dominate scrummaging display to date but meant that he offered less in the loose.

4. Devin Toner: 5
A lacklustre and at times quite lazy performance at the breakdown from Toner. Gave away needless and kickable penalties that could have been avoided had he simply just rolled away.

5. Mike McCarthy: 7.5
Ably assisted in many a choke tackle and was arguably Ireland’s best player. Pinched ball in the lineout, stripped attacking ball and tackled anything in a blue shirt. Went off with concussion and his loss left a gaping hole.

6. CJ Stander: 6
Picked up where he left off last week but when O’ Brien went off Stander’s workload became too big to dominate as he did against Wales.

7. Sean O’Brien: 5.5
Started with some big carries over the gain line but what looks like a serious injury curtailed his efforts after only 20 minutes.

8. Jamie Heaslip: 6
Spent most of the afternoon on the back foot and certainly added his weight to a sizeable defensive job but Ireland needed more barrelling runs from him to relieve late scrummaging pressure.

Replacements: 4
One of the biggest downfalls for Ireland was the lack of impact from the bench. No one stood out and individual errors were costly.

By Andy Daniel
Follow Andy on Twitter (@scrum5ive)