Our player ratings as Ireland brush aside Italy at the Aviva

Ireland celebrate a try at the Aviva.

15. Hugo Keenan — 9: His quick tap from a mark set up Ireland’s first attack and, ultimately, Crowley’s opening try. Huge tackle led to an important Irish turnover on the quarter-hour mark. Keenan continued in that vain, huge in both defence and attack, where he beat eight defenders. The Irish rugby public will sweat over his second-half knock until we hear more.

14. Calvin Nash — 7: Not a bother on him as a test player. Brilliant late finish to score his second try in as many Ireland caps. Otherwise, by dint of the fact that Ireland plainly prefer to attack from right to left, he didn’t get many opportunities on the ball.

13. Robbie Henshaw — 9: Looks back to his career-best form of 2021. Broke tackles for fun — particularly in the first quarter — and popped a beautiful offload to his centre partner ahead of Ireland’s second score. Touch unfortunate not to be awarded his own try on 55 minutes.

12. Stuart McCloskey — 8: Some lovely link-up play with Lowe and rolled out the red carpet for Sheehan’s touchdown in the left-hand corner. Impressive display as a midfield facilitator during some of Ireland’s brightest moments, and smoothed over Bundee Aki’s absence with 15 carries.

11. James Lowe — 9: Busy, creative, dynamic. Took his nuclear left boot out of its holster in the second half before generally running amok. Crowned his latest excellent display with a fine finish but his playmaking ability in full flight is a joy to watch.

10. Jack Crowley — 8: Showed exquisite hands throughout — most notably in the lead-up to Ireland’s opening try, which he finished off himself, and in the creation of the second for Sheehan. A constant threat to the Italian line which afforded him the half-yard’s worth of luxury to bring his fellow attackers into play. Would have been a 9 were it not for a sub-50% day off the tee.

9. Craig Casey — 7: A couple of early box-kicks got away from him, as did a couple of decisions with ball in hand, but he fizzed along nicely for the most part. Prevented a potential Italian score with a brilliant tackle from behind on Ange Capuozzo as the fullback rampaged into Irish territory on the half-hour mark. Put in some big hits and shook off a bigger one.

1. Andrew Porter — 9: Won three first-half penalties off Pietro Ceccarelli at scrum-time, and another off Giosue Zilocchi after the break which led to Dan Sheehan’s second try.

2. Dan Sheehan — 9: Charge-down of, and subsequent tackle on, Paolo Garibisi got the crowd going during an early lull. Almost botched his first try finish but had done well to offer his services down the left edge. Second was a gimme. Cruelly denied his hat-trick by some excellent Italian defence before his withdrawal. Spotless in the lineout.

3. Finlay Bealham — 8: Scrummaged well, tackled well, and produced a Trojan effort at Ireland’s attacking breakdown.

4. Joe McCarthy — 8: More colossal in defence than attack this week, but his linespeed and power on the gain-line yielded huge returns. At one point, he managed to score a try while Italy had a knock-on advantage on their own line. It was disallowed, obviously, but it was a nice illustration of McCarthy’s game-awareness while also playing like a wrecking ball.

5. James Ryan — 7: Pinged for a neckroll which wound up costing Conan an almost certain try after a nice maoeuvre inside by Crowley. Won five lineouts on Irish ball and was quietly effective otherwise, without necessarily stating his case to overthrow either of Ireland’s second-row incumbents.

6. Ryan Baird — 8: Took to the skies to phenomenal effect, including at lineout time where he was a menace on Italian ball, stealing one and making a mess of a couple more. Made one trademark 40-yard break to punctuate a dominant opening half by the hosts. Crunched a few lads, as is standard.

7. Caelan Doris (captain) — 7: Doubtless plenty going on in his head as he captained his country for the first time, and he certainly wasn’t at his most influential. Still made nine carries and nine tackles.

8. Jack Conan — 8: His try was his first meaningful attacking involvement but was an excellent, burrowed finish from a yard shy of the line. Ryan’s neckroll denied him a likely second, but he became a more influential presence on both sides of the ball in the second half.

Replacements:

16. Ronan Kelleher — (Sheehan 56′) — 7: Picked up where Sheehan left off in virtually every way — just didn’t score.

17. Jeremy Loughman (Porter 56′) — 6: Conceded a penalty in his first scrum and didn’t get much of a chance to demonstrate his excellent hands in the loose. Did his best work at the breakdown and in the Irish maul.

18. Tom O’Toole (Bealham 56′) — 7: Again proved himself a tidy bench option. Introduced himself with a thudding carry and locked out the scrum.

19. Iain Henderson (Ryan 60′) — 7: Two clean takes in the lineout and made himself known with a couple of big carries to boot.

20. Josh van der Flier (Baird 66′) — 7: Gained big yardage with a break straight off the bench before reverting to groundhog as Ireland closed out the game.

21. Jamison Gibson-Park (Casey 73′) — 7: Key to Nash’s try and about an inch short of scoring his own.

22. Harry Byrne (Keenan 56′) — 7: First involvement was a slight misread and handling error off a launch play but that didn’t affect him remotely. Played flat to the line and was instrumental in Lowe’s try. Excellent touchline conversion for Nash’s score.

23. Jordan Larmour (Henshaw 64′) — 5: Pinged for a neckroll, brave but beaten in a big aerial challenge, and caught for a forward pass. Got involved, but things just didn’t quite fall his way during a broken period of the game.

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