Ireland v New Zealand: Player ratings as hosts outplayed at Aviva Stadium
Ireland struggled for 80 minutes against a red-hot New Zealand side, suffering a 10 point loss.
It looked like men against boys for the most part as Ireland lost 23-13 to New Zealand.
Gutsy was one way to describe Ireland's first-half performance, trailing 9-6 despite the All Blacks domination.
With Jordie Barrett shown a yellow card in the first half's closing seconds, Ireland capitalised with a Josh van der Flier try to take the lead early in the second.
That would prove Ireland's final score as New Zealand scored 14 points without reply.
Here is how the players rated.
Hugo Keenan - Covered lots of ground as both sides' kicking game provided poor returns. A certain stiltedness in decision-making, not least as he is a Sevens star, opting to kick every time. 7
Mack Hansen - Had been pulled infield to act as cover just before Jordan popped up completely unmarked on his side to score the game's key try. Busy and covered a lot of ground. 7
Garry Ringrose - Victim of a high hit from Jordie Barratt, show-casing an extraordinary lack of technique from his soon to be teammate. Very little headway in attack, solid in defence. 7
Bundee Aki - Slow start with two handling errors but was soon carrying as hard as he could into contact, a tactic the All Blacks were expecting and he was repeatedly swallowed up. 7
James Lowe - May have missed touch with his first kick but there was a superb catch shortly afterwards following whicj he found his rhythm, Started second-half really well. Incredible 50/22 punt eight minutes from time. 8
Jack Crowley - Quiet time at no10 as Ireland struggled to find cohesion. The call seemed to be, all too predictably, to simply let Aki bulldoze up the middle. Replaced before the hour by Frawley. 6
Jamison Gibson Park - The busier of the two half-backs throughout, top class performance, taking a lot of the play-making responsibility. Brilliant chase back to catch McKenzie midway through the first-half. 8
Sign up for our Rugby news service on Whats App
Click this link or scan the QR code to receive the latest rugby news and top stories from the Irish Mirror. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
Andrew Porter - Chargedown of a Ratima kick proved to be one of the first-half highlights and was emblematic of a lively display. Locked down his side of scrum impressively. 8
Ronan Kelleher - Harshly penalised at ruck ahead of All Blacks first score, would have been disappointed the first of the rolling mauls failed to gain go forward and second was simply ripped. 6
Finlay Bealham - The Ireland scrum was good on the night and the Connacht prop found himself having to do his job twice on the night - no sooner was he subbed by o'Toole than he had to come back on for o'Toole! 8
Joe McCarthy - Interesting that Andy Farrell chose to take off both second-rows in the second-half possibly signaling he felt a lack of dynamism, O'Mahony coming in at no6 and Beirne moving to the second-row. 6
James Ryan - Big and imposing and at the heart of the Irish defence fronting up against the Blacks' big men. Possibly pinned in and unlucky to concede the penalty on half-time. 7
Tadhg Beirne - Thankfully had remained vigilant and snuffed out a dangerous first-half top-penalty near the Irish line. Being moved to the second-row suggests this may be where his immediate future lies. 7
Josh van der Flier - One of Ireland's brightest on the night, covered acres of ground early on making two notable tackles, his nose for the line was best demonstrated by taking a great angle ahead of his early second-half try. 9
Caelan Doris - The new captain gathered the opening kick but it was not the signal for a big night in charge. Did well to take a messy ball out of the scrum ahead of van der Flier's try. 7
Subs; Rob Herring 6, Cian Healy 6, Tom O'Toole n/a, Iain Henderson 6, Peter O'Mahony 6, Conor Murray n/a, Ciaran Frawley 6, Jamie Osborne 6
Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts.
Related
Share this page
Guest Posts by Easy Branches
