Caelan Doris
The world-class performances come as no surprise these days. Ireland have one of the best back row players in the game in 25-year-old Doris.
The completeness of his skillset means he can do pretty much everything for Ireland. That’s why he has excelled while wearing numbers eight, six, and now seven. Whatever the specific role, Doris can adapt.
He is superb on both sides of the ball, with his defensive breakdown work outstanding again last night. He’s tall at 6ft 4ins but can jackal as effectively as most opensides. There’s power in his front-on tackles, while he’s agile enough to deal with attackers in wide channels too.
Good things happen for Ireland when Doris gets lots of touches in attack. He can carry with the best of them, combining footwork and power, but his passing and decision-making are strengths too. Last night, he passed the ball more often than anyone except the Irish halfbacks.
We already knew he was brilliant and Doris looks set to be one of the stars of the World Cup.
Joe McCarthy
Ireland have been excited about 22-year-old second row McCarthy for a while and finally got the chance to give him his first Test start last night. It’s impossible to miss McCarthy on the pitch. He’s 6ft 6ins tall and looks heavier than the 119kg he’s listed at by the IRFU.
Size like that is handy in rugby, especially when it’s accompanied by explosive power, as we saw in McCarthy’s performance. He was punchy with his 11 carries for Ireland, perhaps most notably in gaining crucial metres with a big carry just before Cian Healy’s try. McCarthy made more post-contact metres than any other Irish forward with 23, according to Opta.
He had a clever offload off the ground at one stage to keep the tempo high, while he completed all of his seven tackle attempts, helped force a turnover, won a lineout, and did some good work in maul defence as well as scrummaging on the tighthead side.
It was an eye-catching demonstration of McCarthy’s ability on just his second cap.
Craig Casey
The Munster man’s back tightened up and forced him off just five minutes into the second half, but he had been impressive up until that point. 24-year-old Casey is really maturing as a Test scrum-half and this display showed his progress.
His quick tap lured Danilo Fischetti into being yellow-carded in the first half and that desire for pace is such a positive part of Casey’s game. He’s always ultra-alert, as he showed in scooping up an early loose ball and setting Iain Henderson off on a trundle.
Casey’s passing was crisp, as usual, but it’s worth highlighting the other areas of his game that have been questioned in the past. His decision-making was calm and intelligent last night, with some clever snipes into the shortside.
And his kicking was excellent too. One early bomb drew a knock-on from Paolo Odogwu, another allowed Jacob Stockdale to win the ball back, then Casey later delivered a classy long, low kick that rolled all the way into touch in the Italian 22.
Iain Henderson
Clearly in good nick after pre-season, Henderson made a strong return to action having last played all the way back in March. Despite the long stint without rugby, the Ulster man wasn’t lacking sharpness.
Having been handed the captaincy, Henderson led by example. He was powerful in contact and skillful too, with one slick offload close to the touchline allowing Ireland to get upfield. There were several nice shorter passes in there too.
Henderson called the Irish lineout at a 100% success rate, although he and his pack will have been disappointed to give up a couple of penalties for ‘double banking.’
The Irish skipper didn’t have to do much defensive contact work – Opta’s data has him down for just one tackle – but there was no doubting Henderson’s energy and work rate in this game.
Jack Crowley
Ireland’s first-half performance was clearly better than what they delivered in the second and while that wasn’t all down to Crowley being at out-half before moving to fullback, he did obviously have a key say in how they played.
It was a big opportunity for the 23-year-old as he made his second Test start and, as is his habit, he didn’t look flustered. He’s clearly comfortable at playing within Ireland’s attacking shape, working well as he did with the pods of forwards around him.
Crowley’s passing was precise, he stood up well to some heavy contact just after releasing the ball on several occasions, had a couple of nice kicks, carried the ball himself on occasion – which can be important for a 10 – and tackled well.
There were a couple of spilled balls that will have frustrated him, but Crowley had a good game for Ireland. Perhaps it wasn’t ideal to move to fullback when things were going well at out-half, but it’s also a handy card to have in a 33-man World Cup squad.
Jack Conan
Despite only playing 36 minutes before being taken off with a foot injury, Conan was the joint second-busiest ball carrier for Ireland with 12 carries.
There was another brilliant Irish number eight on the pitch, only he was wearing the number seven shirt, but Conan picked up where he left off at the end of the Six Nations this year.
The subtle late shifts of running angle and footwork close to defenders allow him to get over the gainline, while he has direct power when needed. He will have been disappointed to get chocked tackled on the very first carry of the game.
This game also allowed him to show off his deft handling skill, with one superb sweep pass out the back soon followed by a clever little tip-on.
Many Irish fans would love to see Gavin Coombes unleashed at number eight but the quality of Conan and Doris means opportunities have been nearly impossible to come by. Farrell will hope Conan is given the all-clear with his foot injury, especially given that a foot injury wrecked the 2019 World Cup for the Leinster man.
