IRELAND
15. Simon Zebo: 7
In his more un-favoured position Zebo ran some extremely dangerous lines and looked solid at the back. Defended well when called upon.
14. Andrew Trimble: 6.5
One early try-saving tackle and then one massive hit on Alun-Wyn Jones saved his team ten points. Not enough attacking ball came his way though.
13. Jared Payne: 6
Another fantastic defensive effort and his partnership with Robbie Henshaw is taking shape but he didn’t look dangerous in attack at all.
12. Robbie Henshaw: 7
His personal battle with Jamie Roberts was an intriguing side show as big hit after bit hit rained in. Kicked well and took some pressure of Johnny Sexton. The more creative of the two centres, he also chipped in with a couple of turnovers when Wales were exerting pressure.
11. Keith Earls: 6.5
Another player that proved his mettle in defence but he worked hard in attack and came looking for work time and time again.
10. Johnny Sexton: 7
Close to getting back to his best. Some searing breaks through the midfield and 100% kicking ratio but another big knock forced him off the field towards the end after getting his head in the wrong position.
9. Conor Murray: 7.5
This was Murray at his best. Lots of breakdown work allowed him quick ball to put Ireland on the front foot. Busy digging the ball out of the ruck and he took his try well.
1. Jack McGrath: 6
What you see is what you get with McGrath. Offered himself around the park in the loose and scrummaged well but did go backwards significantly for Taulupe Faletau’s try.
2. Rory Best: 6.5
A good shift on his first game as Captain. Led the team admirably and his performance was certainly not hampered by the burden of captaincy. Lineout was extremely tidy and you couldn’t miss his white head guard hitting ruck after ruck.
3. Nathan White: 6
It was only the Kiwi-born prop’s ninth cap but his scrummaging and basic skills are extremely good. He needs to offer more in the loose if he wants to add to his caps at the age of 34.
4. Devin Toner: 6.5
One basketball style charge down demonstrated what a nuisance Toner was at the breakdown as his ample frame slowed Welsh ball down constantly by stepping through the middle of rucks.
5. Mike McCarthy: 6
Solid if not spectacular. Did a lot of the dirty work at the breakdown and played a part in keeping Luke Charteris extremely quiet. More to come from McCarthy.
6. CJ Stander: 8
Man of the match for Ireland by a country mile. Tackled anything that moved, top of the carries chart and made a shedload of hard yards. Superb debut.
7. Tommy O’Donnell: 7
Like Stander, O’Donnell ran himself into the ground and made good distance when he carried on the gain line. Replaced early in the second half after a knock but an able stand in for Sean O’Brien when called upon.
8. Jamie Heaslip: 6.5
Never stopped trying and putting his body on the line but nowhere near as destructive as Stander. When everyone is fit, Heaslip will need to up his game to stave off the challenge of Stander who is usually found at number 8 for Munster.
Replacements: 6
Rhys Ruddock picked up where O’Donnell left off whilst all other substitutes came on too late to really make an impact.
WALES
15. Liam Williams: 7
Stepped in as a late replacement for Gareth Anscombe and acquitted himself admirably. Top metres gained and his subtle kicking ability was a real attacking weapon.
14. George North: 6.5
A lot of huff and puff for little reward. The way that Wales play does suit North more and he worked hard looking for the ball. Took two defenders to bring him down every time he attacked.
13. Jonathan Davies: 7
Looked most likely to break the defensive line and his partnership with Roberts is as strong as ever. Expect him to grow into this Championship and become more dangerous as it goes on.
12. Jamie Roberts: 8
21 tackles and ball-carrying like a true warrior, Roberts was at his very best in Ireland. He kept the threat of Henshaw at bay as he claimed the Welsh man of the match.
11. Tom James: 6
Hardly saw the ball at all in attack but his covering tackle on Andrew Trimble after a Johnny Sexton break saved a certain try.
10. Dan Biggar: 6
Took one magnificent high ball but an ankle injury followed by a wayward conversion meant his day finished early as he left the field after 20 minutes.
9. Gareth Davies: 5.5
Davies was a shadow of his swashbuckling World Cup self as he seemed to have been instructed to just get to the breakdown and simply pass the ball. His the threat around the fringes was lost.
1. Rob Evans: 7.5
Many questioned leaving Gethin Jenkins out of the team but they needn’t have worried. Easily the best prop on the park with his tackling and running ability adding to his dominance in the scrum that led to Faletau’s try.
2. Scott Baldwin: 6.5
Part of a very solid scrum but he absolutely butchered an overlap that would have led to a certain Welsh try.
3. Samson Lee: 7
Another strong performance up front. His fitness is improving but still starts flagging early in the second half of games.
4. Luke Charteris: 7
12 big tackles and his battle at the lineout with McCarthy was a good watch. Only criticism may be that he wasn’t a big enough nuisance at the breakdown.
5. Alun Wyn Jones: 6.5
Missed a couple of tackles unusually and Devin Toner out muscled him at times. As per his job description, he delivered clean lineout ball.
6. Sam Warburton: 6
Playing out of his usual position and it showed. The stats show that Tipuric was a much more influential flanker on the day.
7. Justin Tipuric: 7.5
15 tackles and two turnovers show what a menace the Osprey is at the tackle area but his link play and passing ability was exceptional.
8. Taulupe Faletau: 8
A textbook number 8 finish for his try, he also made 21 tackles like Roberts. Invaluable contribution.
Replacements: 6.5
Rhys Priestland kicked 11 very important points and controlled the game well. Tomas Francis gave away the match-drawing penalty but Bradley Davies and Gethin Jenkins added the sort of value that you would expect from the old war horses.
Andy Daniel (@scrum5ive)
Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images
9 replies on “Six Nations 2016: Ireland vs Wales Player Ratings”
Not sure how you can give such a high collective score to a Welsh back line that didn´t break the Irish defence on a single occasion. There should be more to the game than trying to simply bash a hole in the opposition.
A 6 for Tom James is a touch strange. Other than the one tackle, he was nigh-on invisible.
Rob Evans is a good find!
I am not sure I was watching the same match. Williams was pedestrian – never looked particularly dangerous with ball in hand and fell into the Irish “hint of space out wide” trap every time, where he was calmly bundled into touch or tackled backwards. His most productive moment was leaping into the air as Earls (or was it Trimble?) tackled him, forcing the tip. As mentioned in the comments, North at least was hard to stop and took multiple defenders to bring him down – I didn’t think he had a particularly stellar game but no way should he be rated lower than Williams. Jamie Roberts was outstanding in defense but so predictable in attack that he made no impact. Compare to Faletau, who was equally robust in defense but also made important yards and always looked threatening with his carries, not to mention anchoring the impressive Welsh scrum.
Quite clear after reading this that this writer was only focused on Wales. Heaslip needing to improve? Imo his best performance since his first game for Leinster. Very few Irish players got higher than 7.5 whereas nearly all the welsh players managed that. Either the Welsh needed to play at there very best just too get a draw against Ireland B and there fore are NOT that good or the Irish B team showed how strong it was.
So Wales were award 102 points in total, to Ireland’s 100. So two points spread across 15 players. Nearly all Welsh players managed more than 7.5 doesn’t even ring close to being true, two Welsh players were above 7.5…
Considering Wales were away, I’d expect to see their scores ever so slightly higher so I’m not really sure why you would think the writer is in any way focused on Wales.
7/10 for Liam Williams…for the man took the ball into contact every time and never passed to the outside player.
6/10 for Captain Darling who is clearly not match fit but that does not matter to Cementhead cos it ‘Gats Law’ that says Sam is always always going to get picked even if he were dead.
I think I heard his name mentioned once all through the game, apart from when he was subbed which wasn’t really soon enough.
On Sunday I think it fair to say that ‘Captain Darling’ delivered a performance that bettered the 1933 outing by Claude Rains in the original version of ‘The Invisible Man’.
If England are going to have a national anthem other than ‘God Save the Queeeee’ then perhaps we should have a new national tune for the Welsh side.
Sung to tune of Yogi Bear……………
Whose that 6 so far off the pace?
Sammy…Sammy
Whose the 6 so way off the pace?
Sammy Sammy Warbs….Sammy Sammy Warbs
Sammy Sammy Warbs….Sammy Sammy Warbs
Whose that 6 so way off the pace?
Sammy Sammy ……Warbs
Sammy been for out for weeks
Pick him…Pick him
Sammy has been out for weeks
Pick him…..Pick him…….Gats
Et al
Yawn ….
Prophet Enoch…..stick a sock in it.
Schmidt said after the game that you can afford to defend narrow against the Welsh. Wales had a fair few opportunities to score out wide (for all the usual boshing up the middle we did).
It was our inability to:
a) run straight
b) fix defenders
c) pass
d) catch
which meant we didn’t execute any of them, but the overlaps were definitely there. It may be rustiness, Wales are notoriously crap at starting the tournament. Scotland at the MS this week should be a good opportunity to get some fluidity back in to the play.
Scotland could’ve played on until Christmas and still wouldn’t have scored against England. Much has been made of them scoring a shed load of points at the WC – the problem being they conceded a shed load too, and up against one of the stingiest defences in the championship I don’t see much happening for them.