PLAYER RATINGS France v Ireland

[All Blacks nil]

Firstly
What a game of Test rugby. If ever the word test was apt, it surely applies here. Questions asked by both sides and questions answered. A proper game of rugby.

Ratings
Kearney 7
Immense in the air, couldn't be faulted for French try. A solid performance blighted by some poor kicking decisions.
Trimble 9
Tommy Bowe-esque , game breaking line breaks, great support lines, power and pace. 23 previous starts on left wing also make him a candidate (among others) for that position (among others) on Bowe's return despite the "system". MOTM any other day
O'Driscoll 6
Had a tough day defensively with the French using Bastereaud to bash his way up the middle. A younger BOD would probably have had the legs to score from Trimble's pass but did well to retain possession allowing Sexton to score. Incidentally what price was he to be MOTM!!!!
Darcy 6
Stood up well defensively,
Kearney 6
Did what it says on the tin. Lacking either the paceor physicality to be a top international wing. Hard guy to run support at times as his sidesteps in tight areas can also outfox his own players and can result in him being isolated. Maybe sometimes he could just take the tackle and set up the next phase.
Sexton 6
Two well taken tries disguised a relatively poor display by Johnny. His tactical kicking lacked balls and vision, restarts were a mixed bag and his placekicking woes from the right handside continue. STAT ALERT those of you sensitive to stats skip to the next line now (18/24 for the tournament,15/16 from left or centre, 3/8 from the right)
Two great finishes though, spotted the lines and backed himself.
Murray 8
Some of his box kicking was too short, but .he passed well and ran well. Decision making was excellent highlighted by 2 assists.
Healy 7
Not one of his most conspicious games, as Ireland generally struggled to carry yards. Scrummaged well and tackled manfully
Best 8
lineout on the button again,great work rate,
Ross 7
What it says on the tin, great scrummaging, good lineout work and good work rate all through.
O'Connell 8
Big performance.huge tackle count, tagged a lovely turnover, led and called and caught some great lineout.
Toner 7
Another great performance to complete an outstanding first season as " the man" .
O'Mahoney 7
As it says on the tin, solid, hard,committed with decent contributions in defence and lineout.
Henry 7
As above, huge tackling effort.
Heaslip 7
Not his most physical performance ever, big work rate without imposing physically himself on the game

Replacements
Front row - struggled badly at scrummage time, but put themselves around physically
Henderson - typically got stuck in with some big physical hits
Reddan Did well, although it was a questionable ploy to sub Murray so early.
Madigan, Did ok, an overtendency to play scrumhalf though. Remember back to the NZ match showed the same inclination. Hopefully he will develop his game enough to be confident of playing out half and make decisions to close out a game.
McFadden Versatile