IRELAND
15. Simon Zebo: 8
Attack attack attack. Justified his selection at full back with a great attacking display making substantial gains. Safe under high ball.
14. Andrew Trimble: 8
One of Trimble’s best games in green so far. Busy on and off his wing breaking tackles and making his fair share as well.
13. Jared Payne: 7
Steady performance from Payne and managed to grab a late try. Nine tackles in defence shows where his best work was done.
12. Robbie Henshaw: 7.5
Went through gaps with ease and made some big hits. One of the centre berths is his for the long term.
11. Keith Earls: 7.5
You know what you’re going to always get with Earls. Big team player, work horse mentality, solid defence and dangerous when the game opens up. He didn’t disappoint on Saturday.
10. Johnny Sexton: 7.5
His part in Heaslip’s try was nothing short of top class and kept Ireland moving forward but he loses a mark for some wayward goal kicking.
9. Conor Murray: 7
Quiet by Murray’s standards. Fed Sexton good, quick ball but never drew defenders in around the fringes like he normally would.
1. Jack McGrath: 7.5
Had the upper hand at scrum time and did plenty of work that led to the quick ball at the breakdown for Ireland to run riot.
2. Rory Best: 7
Lineout throwing was much improved and he will be relieved to get his first win as skipper.
3. Mike Ross: 6.5
Scrummaged well but unlike McGrath he didn’t really put in a shift in the loose.
4. Donnacha Ryan: 9
All-action Ryan was everywhere. Securing lineout ball, smashing people in the tackle and carrying hard & straight. Awarded Man of the Match and rightly so.
5. Devin Toner: 6.5
Toner seemed to go missing for periods of this match and although he secured good lineout ball he wasn’t in the same league in the loose as his second row partner.
6. CJ Stander: 8.5
The recently qualified South African continued to justify his selection in green. Simply superb as he turned over ball and then ran it back at the Italians with interest.
7. Josh van der Flier: 7
He may have been an injury replacement at the beginning of the tournament but Van der Flier looks happily at home on the international stage. Quick around the park and a nuisance at the breakdown.
8. Jamie Heaslip: 8
Complimented Stander well as he stood back and let his back row partner do damage to the Italian pack whilst he made the glory yards in open play. Two tries were just reward for a performance close to Heaslip’s very best.
Replacements: 8
Sean Cronin and Ian Madigan got on the score sheet but the real talking point is what the future holds for Ultan Dillane after an extremely impressive last 25 minutes for the replacement lock.
ITALY
15. David Odiete: 6
Didn’t actually have too bad a game and looked dangerous at times. Decent assist for Sarto try as well.
14. Leonardo Sarto: 4.5
His try masks what was a terrible performance from Sarto. Summed up by his decision to tap the ball over Odiete’s head early on that eventually led to an Ireland score.
13. Michele Campagnaro: 6
It wasn’t Campagnaro’s day in attack but he does have an air of danger around him when he gets the ball. Never gave up and looked lively throughout.
12. Gonzalo Garcia: 5
Very close to scoring early on but after that he was no where to be seen as everyone crumbled around him.
11. Matteo Bellini: 4.5
Another winger, another terrible game. When needed to come infield and share the work load he remained a static and lonely figure out wide.
10. Eduardo Padovani: 4.5
Terrible pass for Jared Payne to intercept and he was sat far too deep in attack to ever start an assault on the Irish defence.
9. Guglielmo Palazzini: 5
Slow passing and wasn’t hungry enough to dig the ball out at the breakdown. Always difficult behind a pack going backwards, but still could have offered more.
1. Andrea Lovotti: 4
The Italian scrum went consistently backwards and it was mainly on his side that this was occurring.
2. David Giazzon: 4.5
Whilst Italy were still in the game, Giazzon missed his man badly on two occasions which handed Ireland the momentum that they craved.
3. Lorenzo Cittadini: 5
The only reason that his score is slightly higher than his other front row partners is that he wasn’t as beaten up in the set piece as the other two.
4. George Biagi: 5
As soon as he was back in the side he picked up another injury and subbed before half time. He proved to be a big loss after a solid game up to this point.
5. Marco Fuser: 5
Another early bath as he was injured after 25 mins. Not as big a loss as Biagi as he was having a torrid time against Ryan.
6. Francesco Minto: 4.5
Out muscled and out played by Stander. Had no effect on the game at all.
7. Alessandro Zanni: 4.5
Zanni just seemed to be getting in the way most of the time as he struggled with the pace of the game. Countless knock-ons.
8. Sergio Parisse: 6
Some really nice touches from the skipper but he couldn’t contain a whole Irish back row on his own. You feel that sometimes when the chips are down, others stand back and watch rather than support him.
Replacements: 4
A terrible game to come on to and it showed. The scrum was not stabilised by anyone and although the backs got in on the try scoring act late on it was purely because of the nature of the game rather than a substitute making an impact.
By Andy Daniel
Follow Andy on Twitter (@scrum5ive)
Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images
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Who writes this Rubbish. Madigan better than Payne??
Think you’ve misunderstood – the 8 rating for the replacements doesn’t necessarily mean Madigan himself was worth an 8, it means the impact of the bench overall was an 8.
I would agree that a 7 for Payne is pretty harsh though – definitely at least an 8 in my book!
Zanni made 19 tackles and no knock ons, there was one off a carry of his, but it was actually off an Irish arm; don’t get the 4.5 for Zanni, without him and Minto Ireland would have topped 80 points. Zanni made some nice carries and some of his tackles really knocked the Irish back.
Most people are just slagging off Ireland’s attack saying it was just Italy but, when you look at the stats you see that Italy still completed 92% of there tackles.