Ryan Bailey reports from the Aviva Stadium
THIS WAS MUCH more like it. Ireland delivered their best performance of the Six Nations campaign to put France to the sword in Dublin this afternoon, scoring four tries during an impressive display.
Our match report is here, while below we take a closer look at the individual performances.
Replacements:
Jack Conan: 8
Off the bench and into the action earlier than expected after JVDF’s injury, but he wasted no time in making an impact. Often does so much unseen work, and continued his prolific try-scoring record with his sixth score in 13 Tests.
Dave Kilcoyne: 7
Click Here: edinburgh rugby jersey
Replaced Healy on 50 minutes and, again, brought power and energy off the bench. The Munster loosehead has surged up Schmidt’s pecking order with four strong performances during this championship.
John Ryan: 7
Ensured Ireland stayed on the front foot at the set-piece upon his arrival.
Ultan Dillane: 7
Thoroughly deserving of his place on the bench after a string of strong cameos for club and country, and he came up trumps with a lineout steal as France finishing the game strongly.
Niall Scannell, John Cooney, Jack Carty and Andrew Conway: 7
It was great to see both Cooney and Carty get 20-minute shifts here, the latter — on for his home debut — executing two excellent kicks from hand after coming on for Sexton. Conway got on late for his 12th cap after earning a call-up to the matchday 23 on the back of Kearney’s injury.
Subscribe to our new podcast, The42 Rugby Weekly, here: