Player ratings: Irish class shows

Ireland coasted home to a comfortable 62-12 victory over Russia and are still on course to finish on top of Pool C at the World Cup.

The Irish started strongly making the most of a yellow card to Russia’s flyhalf early on and were never in danger of losing.

In the seond-half the Irish took their foot off the gas and let in two Russian tries, and will need a 80 minute performance against Italy next weekend.

Timmy Hancox rates the Irish players:

15 Robert Kearney:
Ran some great angles from deep and cut open the defence with his eye for the gap. His defence was found wanting as the Russian fullback burst past him to score a try.
7/10

14 Fergus McFadden:
Limited opportunities out wide, but scored a good try from an O’Gara cross-kick.
6/10

13 Keith Earls:
Made the most of any opportunity on attack with a brace of tries to remind the coaches how valuable he can be.
8/10

12 Paddy Wallace:
Strong in the tackle and straightened the line well without standing out.
7/10

11 Andrew Trimble:
Showed great pace and vision to set up Earls’s try and scored one of his own. Good option-taking to drift into the midfield on occasion without being caught out of position, and has put his hand up for first team selection.
9/10

10 Ronan O’Gara:
Controlled the game well with his boot using all his experience in the rain. Created several tries to keep the pressure on Jonathan Sexton for the No.10 jersey.
8/10

9 Isaac Boss:
His service from the breakdown was a little slow and against a better team he would have been in trouble.
5/10

8 Jamie Heaslip:
Was excellent at first receiver and broke the advantage line repeatedly to keep the Russians on the back foot.
8/10

7 Sean O’Brien:
Strong on his feet with an exceptionally high work-rate at the breakdown and was the best player on the field.
9/10

6 Donnacha Ryan:
Moved around the park well and was a constant presence in the ruck and maul area, while making inroads on the defence as a ball carrier.
7/10

5 Leo Cullen:
Strong performance in the engine room during his chance to be Ireland’s captain.
6/10

4 Donncha O’Callaghan:
Dominated the line-outs and won the aerial battle to completely disrupt the Russian set-pieces.
8/10

3 Tony Buckley:
Mobile for a big man and scored a good try bulldozing his way over the line.
8/10

2 Sean Cronin:
Performed well in the line-outs and moved about like a loose forward at times, but disappeared in the later stages.
6/10

1 Cian Healy:
Useful at scrum time without having the same kind of impact as he did against Australia.
6/10

Replacements:

16 Rory Best:
Not used

17 Mike Ross (On for Cian Healy, 60th min):
Was fairly anonymous.
6/10

18 Denis Leamy (On for Donncha O’Callaghan, 45th min):
Made a great break though a hole and was solid on defence.
6/10

19 Shane Jennings (On for Sean O’Brien, 57th min):
Scored a try under the posts after forcing his way across the line and didn’t let anybody down.
6/10

20 Eoin Reddan (On for Isaac Boss, 66th min):
Not enough time to be rated.

21 Jonathan Sexton (On for Ronan O’Gara, 66th minute):
Not enough time to be rated.

22 Geordan Murphy (On for Keith Earls, 60th min):
Limited opportunities, but created space for the outside backs and could be a strong link going forward.
7/10