Player ratings: Connacht vs Leinster

Leinster

1.     Cian Healy – 7/10

Very solid at scrum time. A rock in defence and a constant threat at the breakdown.

2.     James Tracy – 7/10

Accurate at the lineout and did a lot of the important donkey work behind the scenes.

3.     Mike Ross – 7/10

Solid at scrum time as usual. Carried well when called upon and made his tackes around the fringes.

4.     Ross Molony – 7/10

Great option at lineout time. Put in a solid shift at the breakdown and stood up in defence to make some vital tackles.

5.     Hayden Triggs – 7/10

Also very impressive in the lineout. Put in a big defensive shift and carried well at times.

6.     Dominic Ryan – 7/10

Very solid work rate throughout. High tackle count and high number of rucks hit.

7.     Josh van der Flier – 9/10

MOTM. An absolute menace at the breakdown, carried dynamically and was unbeatable in defence. Incredible performance.

8. Rhys Ruddock – 8/10

Great performance for the stand in captain. Worked incredibly hard in attack and defence and was rewarded with a nice try.

9. Luke McGrath – 8/10

Another excellent performance from the scrum-half. Controlled his backline very well and is continuing to grow into the number 9 shirt impressively.

10.  Ross Byrne – 7/10

Played some lovely passes to set team mates into space but his place kicking was inconsistent and could have cost Leinster on another day.

11.  Dave Kearney – 7/10

Started the game well on his return from injury. A touch rust but showed some good spells. Unfortunately forced off early into the second half through injury.

12.  Noel Reid – 7/10

Solid defensively and hard working at the breakdown. Threw a beautiful pass to set up a try early on.

13.  Rory O’Loughlin – 7/10

Posed a serious threat in attack from start to finish. Did very well to finish off a nice try in the corner.

14.  Adam Byrne – 8/10

The stand out performer in the backline. Showed incredible pace and power to score his try early on. Also defended exceptionally well and hit several rucks.

15.  Zane Kirchner – 7/10

Solid performance at full-back. Consistent under the high ball and dangerous when running from deep.

16.  Sean Cronin – (52’) – 7/10

Made a positive impact off the bench when called upon. His pace and intelligent attacking lines caused the Connacht defence a host of problems.

17.  Peter Dooley – (52’) – 7/10

Very solid work at scrum time. Carried dynamically and hit ruck after ruck.

18.  Michael Bent – (53’) – 7/10

Caused Connacht a lot of problems at scrum time. Tackled very effectively and made a few impressive carries.

19.  Ian Nagle – (62’) – 7/10

Impressive in the lineout. Tackled very well and made some vital turnovers at key moments in the game.

20.  Peadar Timmins – (74’) N/A

21.  Nick McCarthy – (71’) 6/10

Didn’t have much time to make an impact but was solid when called upon.

  

22.  Tom Daly – (71’) 7/10

Didn’t get a lot of time to make an impression but did well when in possession. Showed great footwork and caused the tired Connacht defence brief problems.

23.  Barry Daly – (47’) 7/10

Great opportunity to showcase his skills when called upon early due to a Dave Kearney injury. Did very well to score a late try to clinch the victory for Leinster.

Connacht

1 Denis Buckley 6/10

Buckley completed an impressive performance from the Connacht front row today, scrumming well when it was needed.

2 David Heffernan 7/10

Heffernan was quite impressive today having some clean darts at line out time. Heffernan worked hard around the pitch covering huge ground for a front row.

3 Finlay Bealham 7/10

Bealham did well at scrum time and made life difficult for the Leinster front row.

4 Quinn Roux N/A

Unfortunately Roux had to go off for a HIA 22 minutes in and never returned to the field.

5 Andrew Browne 6/10

Browne jumped well in the line out but failed to have a huge impact on the game.

6 Eoin McKeon 6/10

McKeon did what was asked of him hitting rucks and getting around the park well, however today Connacht’s back row was simply outshone by their opposition.

7 Jake Heenan 6/10

Heenan was solid at the back row for Connacht this evening. Heenan had some impressive carries and made some tackles but failed to make a huge impact on the game.

8 John Muldoon 6/10

On his 300th cap Muldoon put in a decent performance for his side hitting rucks that slowed down Leinster’s ball on numerous occasions. Muldoon led from the front and made some clean tackles around the park.

9 Kieran Marmion 6/10

Marmion similar to Carty had a solid performance passing well and made an impressive break that asked questions of the Leinster’s defence.

10 Jack Carty 6/10

Carty did well orchestrating Connacht’s attack and had some eye catching kicks out of hand in open play most noticeably his cross-field to Poolman, a solid performance from the fly half.

11  Danie Poolman 7/10

Poolman got involved and had some nice link up play with O’Halloran at times. Poolman also managed to get over the whitewash gathering a well places cross-field kick.

12 Craig Ronaldson 7/10

Ronaldson had quite an impressive game overall but most noticeably his kicking stood out. Ronaldson made an impressive 5/6 kicks for a side that has struggled off the kicking tee this season.

13 Bundee Aki 6/10

Aki put in his usual shift being a physical presence in the midfield and had a couple of nice turnovers.

14 Niyi Adeolokun N/A

Unfortunately Adeolokun was forced off just 11 minutes in due to injury.

15 Tiernan O’Halloran 8/10

The fullback had a seriously impressive game this evening, O’Halloran seemed to be involved in almost every attack and made life very difficult for Leinster finding space with relative ease.

23 Eoin Griffin – (11') 6/10

Griffin was impressive coming off the bench earlier then expected and was involved in a number of impressive back three attacks from Connacht.

19 Sean J O’Brien – (22') 7/10

O’Brien was a physical presence when he came on making a noticeable difference to the pack.

21 Caolin Blade – (38') N/A

20 Naulia Dawai  - (41)  6/10

Dawai was solid when he came on however Connacht were on the back foot when he came on.

16 Shane Delahunt – (64) 6/10

Delahunt added a burst of energy but had limited time to make an impact

22 Steve Crosbie – (71) N/A

17 JP Cooney – (71) N/A

18 Dominic Robertson-McCoy – (71) N/A