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Ireland player ratings vs Wales | 2023 Guinness Six Nations
Ireland player ratings: A late change at scrumhalf could have rattled Ireland, with Leinster tempo-man Jamison Gibson-Park a late withdrawal.
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With Tadhg Furlong also out with injury, it made the traditionally daunting task of Wales in Cardiff that little bit scarier.
15. Hugo Keenan – 8.5
Did brilliantly to spoil what looked like a sure try for Rio Dyer in the 12th minute. Gave away a penalty near halfway for holding on which gave the Welsh an attacking lineout which nearly lead to a try, Ireland once again repelling the men in red. Maturity beyond his years.
14. Mack Hansen – 7
Didn’t see much ball in the first half with Ireland’s pack too busy bullying the Welsh to pass it his way. Made a poor decision to bust his way over the line when it was never on in the 33rd minute. Defended well and showed some snappy handling. Failed to finish a delightful Ross Byrne crossfield kick in the final play.
13. Garry Ringrose – 7.5
The first 40 minutes saw few decent touches from the in-form Leinster captain and he absolutely melted Dan Biggar in the second half with gut buster of a midfield hit. Uncharacteristically fell off a few tackles too but tireless.
12. Stuart McCloskey – 7
Played his part in Ireland’s rip-roaring start, but will be annoyed at turning over the ball in the 17th minute with the Welsh line once again beckoning for the men in green. A solid outing on both sides of the ball being subbed off.
11. James Lowe – 8.5
A clever kick on the flank put Wales under serious pressure, a gambit which ultimately lead to Ireland’s opening try. He picked his own after a stunning read and intercept before sprinting in from 75 metres out. Showed how much his defence has improved with a soak tackle that saved a certain try a few minutes later.
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10. Johnny Sexton – 8
The puppet master was dictating terms from the off and didn’t look rusty despite a month on the sidelines recovering from a facial injury. Is there a better 10 in the game right now?
9. Conor Murray – 6.5
The late change will have put a lot of pressure on the veteran’s shoulders but he appeared to handle it well. A century of caps worth of muscle memory will do that. Keep the tempo as best he could but got caught napping a few times, getting sacked on occasion and getting sucked into a number of breakdowns.
1. Andrew Porter – 9
Several bone-crunching carries set the tone for Ireland early on. Made some huge contributions defensively in what was a tour-de-force for the iron-hard loosehead. The absent Furlong tends to grab the headlines on the opposite side of the scrum but there’s little between the pair. An all-court game from Porter.
2. Dan Sheehan – 7.5
His trademark carrying featured heavily in the opening exchanges and was a real threat for the Welsh to manage. He essentially operates as an extra back row in the loose.
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3. Finlay Bealham – 6
Did more than survive the first scrum on Ireland’s line in the 13th minute. The scrum started to creak as the match wore on but the Connacht man comes away with credit, even if there’s plenty of room to improve on his set-piece.
4. Tadhg Beirne – 7
Took a body knock early on but recovered well. Like all good players, he can nearly always be found at the centre of the action. The early clatter came back to haunt him and was replaced by Iain Henderson in the second half.
5. James Ryan – 9
A performance that harked back to Ryan’s phenomenal first two seasons on the circuit. The Leinster lock deservedly picked up Ireland’s second try after barging through the slipshod Welsh defence. Made a mockery of Gatland’s decision to leave him out of the Lions tour 18 months ago.
6. Peter O’Mahony – 6.5
The typically dogged performance from the 33-year-old. None of your fancy stuff but helped grease the wheels of an Ireland pack that rode roughshod over the Gatland’s forwards.
7. Josh van der Flier – 7.5
The World Player of Year was kept relatively in the first half. Carried effectively when given the opportunity. Sealed it for Ireland with his 10th international try in the 72nd minute.
8. Caelan Doris – 8.5
Crashing over with just two minutes was the perfect start for the Mayo man. A huge defensive play early in the second half could have proved crucial in stemming the Welsh fightback.
Replacements:
16. Rob Herring – NA
17. David Kilcoyne – NA
18. Tom O’Toole – 7
Not many scrums to get stuck into but got through plenty of work in his time on the field.
19. Iain Henderson – 5
Came away and gave away a coach-killer penalty for a needless hit on Liam Williams.
20. Jack Conan
A couple of decent cameos from the British & Irish
21. Craig Casey
Brought an increase in tempo but didn’t look at all out of his depth during the Welsh purple patch.
22. Ross Byrne – 7
A couple of decent contributions and steered Ireland home. His crossfield kick to Hansen deserved to be rewarded with a try.
23. Bundee Aki – 6.5
Ripped in when he came on, but was penalised for a questionable early tackle on George North. ‘Very, very soft’ was how Alan Quinlan described it. Still, question marks over Aki’s discipline in the tackle remain.
Comments on RugbyPass
What happened to feleti Kaitu’u? Hasnt played in a while right?
1 Go to commentsGregor I just can’t agree with you. You are trying to find something that just isn’t there. Jordie Barrett has signed until 2028. By the end of that he would have spent probably 11-12 years on Super Rugby and you say he can’t possibly have one season playing somewhere else. It is absurd. What about this scenario, the NZR play hard ball and he decides to leave and play overseas. How would that affect the competition. There seems to be an agenda by certain journalists to push certain agendas and don’t like it when it’s not to their liking. I fully support the NZR on this. Gregor needs to get a life.
2 Go to commentsHope he stays as believe he can do a great job.
1 Go to commentsMake what step up? Manie has a World Cup winner’s medal around his neck and changed the way the Springboks can play. He doesn’t have anything to prove to anyone. The win record of the Boks with him in the team is tremendous. Sacha can be wonderful and I hope he has a very succesful Bok career, but comparing him to Manie in terms of the next Bok flyhalf is very strange. Manie is the incumbent (not the next) and doing pretty incredibly.
1 Go to comments00 😍 U
1 Go to commentsSabbaticals have helped keep NZ’s very best talent in the country on long term deals - this fact has been left out of this article. Much like the articles calling to allow overseas players to be selected, yet can only name one player currently not signed to NZR who would be selected for the ABs. And in the entire history of NZ players leaving to play overseas, literally only 4 or 5 have left in their prime as current ABs. (Piatau, Evans, Hayman, Mo’unga,?) Yes Carter got an injury while playing in France 16 years ago, but he also got a tournament ending injury at the 2011 World Cup while taking mid-week practice kicks at goal. Maybe Jordie gets a season-ending injury while playing in Ireland, maybe he gets one next week against the Brumbies. NZR have many shortcomings, but keeping the very best players in the country and/or available for ABs selection is not one of them. Likewise for workload management - players missing 2 games out of 14 is hardly a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Again let’s use some facts - did it stop the Crusaders winning SR so many times consecutively when during any given week they would be missing 2 of their best players? The whole idea of the sabbatical is to reward your best players who are willing to sign very long term deals with some time to do whatever they want. They are not handed out willy-nilly, and at nowhere near the levels that would somehow devalue Super Rugby. In this particular example JB is locked in with NZR for what will probably (hopefully) be the best years of his career, hard to imagine him not sticking around for a couple more after for a Lions tour and one more world cup. He has the potential to become the most capped AB of all time. A much better outcome than him leaving NZ for a minimum of 3 years at the age of 27, unlikely to ever play for the ABs again, which would be the likely alternative.
2 Go to commentsJake White talks more sense than anything I've read in the last 5 years. Hope someone's listening.
9 Go to commentsThe Springboks tried going down the road of only picking home-based players and it was an unmitigated disaster in 2016 and 2017. Picking overseas-based players has been one of the main reason the Boks have done so well since 2018, not only because of the quality Rassie could call on, but because of the knowledge and experience those players brought into camp from England, France and Japan. With some of the big names playing abroad it also gave younger players in SA the chance to break through at franchise level. Would we have seen the emergence of a Ruan Nortje if RG and Lood were still at the Bulls? Not so sure. I understand why Jake would want to block players leaving since his job depends on good results but it’s an approach that would take Bok rugby back to the bad old days and no South African wants to see that.
9 Go to commentsExeter were thumped by 38 points. And they only had to hop on a train.
39 Go to commentsI am De Groot.
1 Go to commentsHad hoped you might write an article on this game, Nick. It’s a good one. Things have not gone as smoothly for ROG since beating Leinster last year at the Aviva in the CC final. LAR had the Top 14 Final won till Raymond Rhule missed a simple tackle on the excellent Ntamack, and Toulouse reaped the rewards of just staying in the fight till the death. Then the disruption of the RWC this season. LAR have not handled that well, but they were not alone, and we saw Pau heading the Top 14 table at one stage early season. I would think one of the reasons for the poor showing would have to be that the younger players coming through, and the more mature amongst the group outside the top 25/30, are not as strong as would be hoped for. I note that Romain Sazy retired at the end of last season. He had been with LAR since 2010, and was thus one of their foundation players when they were promoted to Top 14. Records show he ended up with 336 games played with LAR. That is some experience, some rock in the team. He has been replaced for the most part by Ultan Dillane. At 30, Dillane is not young, but given the chances, he may be a fair enough replacement for Sazy. But that won’be for more than a few years. I honestly know little of the pathways into the LAR setup from within France. I did read somewhere a couple of years ago that on the way up to Top 14, the club very successfully picked up players from the academies of other French teams who were not offered places by those teams. These guys were often great signings…can’t find the article right now, so can’t name any….but the Tadgh Beirne type players. So all in all, it will be interesting to see where the replacements for all the older players come from. Only Lleyd’s and Rhule from SA currently, both backs. So maybe a few SA forwards ?? By contrast, Leinster have a pretty clear line of good players coming through in the majority of positions. Props maybe a weak spot ? And they are very fleet footed and shrewd in appointing very good coaches. Or maybe it is also true that very good coaches do very well in the Leinster setup. So, Nick, I would fully concurr that “On the evidence of Saturday’s semi-final between the two clubs, the rebuild in the Bay of Biscay is going to take longer than it is on the east coast of Ireland”
11 Go to commentsWhat was the excuse for the other knockout blowouts then? Does the result not prove the Saints were just so much better? Wise call to put your eggs in one basket when you’ve got 2 comps simultaneously finishing.
39 Go to commentsReally hope Kuruvoli and his partner rock the Canes.
1 Go to commentsI wonder what impact Samson has had on their attack, as the team seems less prone to trundle it up the middle, take the tackle and then trundle it up again. I lost faith in the coach last year as the Rebelss looked like a 2nd/3rd rate South African team. I also disliked Gordon standing back, often ignored as the forward battle went on and on. Maybe its our Aussie way of not getting off our A***’s until the enemy is at the gate.
86 Go to commentsThanks for the write up. Great to see the Rebs winning, I am a little interested in how they will go against the remaining kiwi teams, I think they’ve only played Hurricanes and Highlanders but how great to see these players performing!! I also see Parling has a job beyond June 30! A good move by RA? Also how do you fix the Rebels previously scratchy defence?
86 Go to commentsbe smart - go black
13 Go to commentsNext week the Crusaders hopefully have Scott Barrett back. Will be great to have the captain back. Hopefully he will be the All Black captain as well.
12 Go to commentsExciting place to be for the young fella. I expected he was French Polynesian when I saw him included in the France 6N squad (after seeing him in NZs), and therefor be strong grounds we might loose him to rugby down here. Good, in that he is good enough to warrant such a profile, and from a journalism’s fan interaction aspect, to finally get a back ground story on the fella. Hope he has settled into NZ OK and that at least one rugby country will fit with him to help his development, which, if so, he should surely continue for a few years, and then that he can experience France to it’s fullest with a bit more maturity and less reliance on family than you would have at his current age. A good 3 or 4 years before he would be ready for International duty if he wanted to wait. Of course he already sounds good enough to accept a call up, and to cap himself, in the more immediate future (he’d have to be very very good in the case of the ABs), and he’ll get a great taste of that being with the Canes who have a bunch who are just a few years further into their career and looking likely Internationals themselves.
13 Go to commentsI remember towards the end of the original broadcasting deal for Super rugby with Newscorp that there was talk about the competition expanding to improve negotiations for more money - more content, more cash. Professional rugby was still in its infancy then and I held an opposing view that if Super rugby was a truly valuable competition then it should attract more broadcasters to bid for the rights, thereby increasing the value without needing to add more teams and games. Unfortunately since the game turned professional, the tension between club, talent and country has only grown further. I would argue we’re already at a point in time where the present is the future. The only international competitions that matter are 6N, RC and RWC. The inter-hemisphere tours are only developmental for those competitions. The games that increasingly matter more to fans, sponsors and broadcasters are between the clubs. Particularly for European fans, there are multiple competitions to follow your teams fortunes every week. SA is not Europe but competes in a single continental competition, so the travel component will always be an impediment. It was worse in the bloated days of Super rugby when teams traversed between four continents - Africa, America, Asia and Australia. The percentage of players who represent their country is less than 5% of the professional player base, so the sense of sacrifice isn’t as strong a motivation for the rest who are more focused on playing professional rugby and earning as much from their body as they can. Rugby like cricket created the conundrum it’s constantly fighting a losing battle with.
9 Go to commentsOh wow… “But as La Rochelle proved in winning in Cape Town this season, a cross-continental away assignment need not spell the end of days.” La Rochelle actually proved quite the opposite. After traveling to Cape town and back they (back-to-back and current champs) got mercilessly thumped the next week. If travel is not the reason, why else would a full-strength powerhouse like La Rochelle get dumped on their @r$e$ one week later?
39 Go to comments