Backs:

Hugo Keenan — 7: Safe. Smart. Industrious. Made his yards without lighting the world on fire. Made a hames of one kick as Ireland were compounding their errors. You’d take that from your fullback most days, and you’d still take Hugo Keenan as your fullback seven days a week.

Mack Hansen — 8: Officially the man of the match — and no qualms on this end. Fielded well and was, as is his wont, omnipresent in Ireland’s attack. Took his try extremely well and is such an underrated. Some footballer.

Garry Ringrose — 7: Quiet-ish by his own standards but, like Hansen, finished well when his opportunity came early in the first half. Put his shoulder to the wheel on the other side of the ball.

Bundee Aki — 7: Didn’t get too many opportunities to carry but the few he did get, he took them well. Score was a gimme on a good support run but there was nothing ordinary about his assist for Earls’ crowning moment.

James Lowe — 8: This writer’s man of the match. An exhibition of his full range of skills. Lowe was absolutely on it, popping up everywhere and typically making enough of a dent in an English defender that he could release a perfectly timed offload to further Ireland’s attack. His right-handed pass out to Peter O’Mahony in the lead-up to Ringrose’s try travelled roughly six kilometres at first glance.

Ross Byrne — 7: Nice and aggressive with his penalties to touch, a quality not often spoken about but one which gave Ireland several idyllic attacking platforms. Two beautiful skip-pass assists and plenty of nice touches. Poor day off the tee and a little bit loose in the first half, even excluding the couple of botched set plays which weren’t his fault.

Jamison Gibson-Park — 6: Not a huge deal to write about today: still integral to everything good that Ireland do in attack.

Forwards:

Andrew Porter — 7: Too hot to handle for the English scrum. Quieter than usual in the carry but put in some barbaric hits.

Dan Sheehan — 6: Was probably on his way to a 7 or 8 until he was withdrawn in the 36th minute. That he caught Elliot Daly on an infield dash 13 minutes earlier is kind of insane: the man is a hooker. Darts were decent, albeit with one overthrow on the half-hour mark. Won a huge scrum penalty with his last involvement.

Tadhg Furlong — 7: See Porter above — but add to the equation that Furlong seemed to personally piss off the English front row to a delightful degree, at one stage commenting, ‘There’s some chat coming out of ya’ at one stage in the first half. He’ll be annoyed to have gotten bursht by Ellis Genge on a first-half carry, but he made a big one of his own before going off halfway through the second.

Tadhg Beirne — 6: Led the team in tackles on a day in which he was needed for pure grunt work. One huge counter-ruck. Quiet on the other side of the ball — don’t think he made a meaningful carry.

James Ryan (captain) — 8: Like Beirne, the stats don’t give a fair reflection of his overall contribution, which included a deftly executed kick into the English backfield midway through the second half. Led from the front and took things right to the edge with referee Paul Williams, which was required once or twice.

Peter O’Mahony — 6: Provided the necessary bread and butter for Aki’s try and occasionally rolled back the years on the left edge. Not his hardest day out and he was put in cotton wool before the hour mark.

Josh van der Flier — 7: Just a generally solid outing on both sides of the ball, and a lovely tee-up for O’Mahony prior to Aki’s try bumps him from a 6 to a 7.

Cian Prendergast — 7: A couple of nervy moments early but settled himself with a big turnover in the 11th minute when Ireland found themselves under the cosh, and that set the tone for a game in which he became a pain in the arse for England throughout. Carried with spite for more metres than any other Irish forward, and was a go-to in the lineout.

Replacements:

Rob Herring (Sheehan 36′) — 6: Uncharacteristically poor throw on the English 5′ early in the second half but otherwise showed why he’s such a valuable player, particularly across the set piece.

Jeremy Loughman (Porter 72′) — n/a

Finlay Bealham (Furlong 56′) — 7: Huge jackal penalty win as Ireland withstood the first bit of serious English pressure in the second half.

Joe McCarthy (O’Mahony 53′) — 7: Made four carries, six tackles and one big turnover upon his introduction.

Caelan Doris (Ryan 69′) — n/a

Conor Murray (Gibson-Park 66′) — n/a

Jack Crowley (Aki 58′) — 6: Would have thrived in this game had he started. Nice touchline conversion from Earls’ score, and threw himself about the place.

Keith Earls — 100: Centurion. Try-scorer. The Man.