England v Ireland player ratings

Man-for-man marking from the Six Nations match at Twickenham in London

Following the contest between England and Ireland we take a look at how the individual players performed.

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England

Alex Corbisiero: Dominant display from the England prop. Proved a handful in the scrum. Caused problems for the Irish front row and forced them to make errors. 7

Dylan Hartley: Accurate in the line-out and scrimmaged well with the help of his pack. Reliable in the England front line as usual. 7

Dan Cole: Worked well with Corbisiero to reak havoc in the front row. Far too strong for his opposition. Scrummaged well throughout and turned in another powerful display. 7

Mouritz Botha: Claimed clean effective ball at the English lineout and another key member of the English scrum. 6

Geoff Parling: Efficient member of the England forwards. Gave away little and another solid performer in the line-out. 6

Tom Croft: Made one or two surging breaks, but ball handling let him down. Powerful in the scrum with the rest of England’s forwards, making a torrid day for Ireland. 6

Chris Robshaw: England captain marshalled his troops well and kept them disciplined throughout in what was a dominant forwards display. Will have done no harm to pressing for the full time England captaincy. 7

Ben Morgan: Man of the match performance from the Llanelli number eight. Made an impact with ball in hand and powerful runs allowed his side to cross the gain line. Orchestrated the forwards well from the back and a constant source of bother to the Irish. 8

Lee Dickson: Made a poor start to the game and never really recovered. Two early box kicks failed to find their mark, before slow distribution allowed Ireland to capitalize from a penalty just before half time. Withdrawn soon after the interval. 4

Owen Farrell: Another mature performance beyond his years from the youngster. Assured with the boot and ensured England maintained a healthy lead at all times. Could be one of the main reasons for Lancaster being offered the job on a full time basis if that is to come to fruition. 7

David Strettle: Struggled to have any real impact on the game. Conditions ensured the ball was not worked through the hands out wide as often as he would have liked. 6

Brad Barritt: Always keen to run when he had the ball in hand. Failed to break through the Irish back line and gain any real advantage. 6

Manu Tuilagi: Another victim of the conditions and wasn’t given enough opportunity to break through the Irish defense. 6

Chris Ashton: Fairly uninvolved in proceedings with little ball finding its way out wide. Got involved when he could, and no real faults could be found in his performance. 6

Ben Foden: Struggled with the high ball on occasion and the conditions forced a few knock ons. Cleared his lines well. 6

Pick of the replacements – Ben Youngs : Much more effective than Dickson following his second half introductions. Delivered quick ball and his quick thinking allowed his try to put the game beyond doubt. 7

Ireland

Cian Healy: Overpowered in the scrum and was ineffective throughout. Failed to deal with the English strength and conceded penalties as a result. 5

Rory Best: The stand in skipper was accurate from the lineout, but much less effective in the scrum. Failed to keep the rest of his forwards disciplined when they needed to most. 6

Mike Ross: Withdrawn early due to injury, but was outmuscled and outperformed beforehand. 6

Donncha O’Callaghan: Reliable as usual from the line-out but otherwise went fairly unnoticed. 6

Donnacha Ryan: Had an impressive first half. Worked hard throughout and forced a few English errors. Even he could not ensure a happy St Patrick’s day for the Irish. 6

Stephen Ferris: Failed to live up to last week’s impressive performance against France. Another victim of a strong English scrum. 6

Sean O’Brien: Replaced in the second half after being another who found it difficult to deal with England’s dominance. 6

Jamie Heaslip: Started strongly and claimed effective ball from the line-out but was convincingly out scrimmaged and will not be used to being outmuscled with such ease. 6

Eoin Reddan: Conceded a few cheap penalties and was unable to turn in a performance reminiscent as the man he has replaced, Conor Murray. 6

Jonathan Sexton: Kicked well when given the opportunity but a lack of possession for his side meant that he was unable to create too many opportunities for his side. 6

Andrew Trimble: Did not get enough opportunity to run with the ball, but was unable to calve out any real chances when he did. 6

Gordon D’Arcy: Another below bar performance from the Leinster man. Hugely short on confidence and it shows. Poor decision-making in a key position meant a lack of creativity for Ireland. Replaced early in the second half. 4

Keith Earls: Made a few key runs which could have led to something which were the only real sources of threat for an Ireland backline otherwise riddled with errors. 6

Tommy Bowe: Not enough opportunity to have the impact he would have liked. Never really found himself with the chance to build on his impressive scoring record in the competition. 6

Rob Kearney: Again was another of Ireland’s more reliable performances. Kicked well and was effective when putting pressure on Foden and forcing him into errors. Playing his way into early Lions starting contention. 7

Pick of the replacements – Tom Court: Came on for the injured Mike Ross and was fighting a losing battle from the off. Failed to effectively deal with a powerful English front line. 5

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