Rob Kearney – 7

Kicked well in the first half and almost had a sensational drop goal from 70 yards. Lively in the second half, but couldn’t keep his team in it.

Tommy Bowe – 7

Decent showing in the first half, alongside Earls, but his star plummeted in the second half with some poor handling.

Keith Earls – 8

Clever handling near the England line when he got caught short came to nothing. Two really good line breaks. Ireland’s best player.

Gordon D’Arcy – 2

Continued his decline as an international centre in the first half, he seemed to miss his Leinster team-mate Brian O’Driscoll more than anyone.

Andrew Trimble – 6

Frequent poor handling in the first half as he made wrong decision after wrong decision, particularly in his interplay with D’Arcy. Was reasonably strong in defence, for all that.

Jonathan Sexton – 4

Penalty attempts aside, he was totally outplayed by Owen Farrell.

Eoin Reddan – 4

Was lucky to stay on the pitch in the first half after sticking his leg inside the England scrum. Replaced by Tomás O’Leary in the second half.

Cian Healy – 5

Reasonable ball carrying but the pack was destroyed today, and he was as culpable as any.

Rory Best – 5

Great vision and execution in the first half to set Earls free but his line-out delivery wasn’t great. Shocking in the scrum, he was dominated by Dylan Hartley.

Mike Ross – 6

A blow for Ireland as Ross was forced off injured in the first half, to be replaced by Tom Court. Had performed reasonably up to that point.

Donncha O’Callaghan – 4

Again, an anonymous member of the Irish pack that was dominated at the breakdown.

Donnacha Ryan – 5

Stepped through a ruck to land a massive psychological blow in the first half, but was poor as part of misfiring defensive unit.

Stephen Ferris – 4

Couple of moments of indiscipline in defence and he saw little of the ball in attack, contributed little overall.

Sean O’Brien – 3

Still doesn’t look like a No7 – he’s fine with ball in hand but very poor on the ground. No different in this game.

Jamie Heaslip – 3

Continued a poor run of form that began in the run-up to last year’s World Cup.

Replacements:

Tom Court – 3

The weakest link in a poor Irish scrum.

Ronan O’Gara – No rating.

His most telling touch came with the last action of the game, putting Ireland out of its misery.

Tomás O’Leary – 3

Came on for Reddan with a view to adding stability and physicality. What he actually delivered were some very ropey passes.

Mike McCarthy – No rating.

As it happened: Ireland v England, Six Nations >