Ireland dominated against Scotland, picking up a 27-3 win in their Rugby World Cup opener.
STAR MEN
Ireland: Conor Murray – Back to his very best. Dictated play as the Scots were swept aside while also kicking the goals. A game management masterclass.
Great result connor murray would be worth 200 million if he was a footballer #RugbyWorldCup #ireland 🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪
— ©onor Matthews (@conmbelfast) September 22, 2019
Scotland: Duncan Taylor – This was a tough pick. Considering Taylor has had so much time out with injury, it was nice to see him back in Scotland colours. The centre made an impressive 10 tackles and was a willing runner throughout. His performance was one small positive for Gregor Townsend.
UNDERPERFORMERS
Ireland: Garry Ringrose – Still struggling to reach the high standards he set when he broke onto the Test scene. Not a bad performance overall but Ireland fans will be hoping for better performances moving forward.
Scotland: Finn Russell – Was he even playing? The fly-half usually makes Scotland tick, but today he did very little with the ball in hand, kicked poorly and aimlessly while also missing two tackles.
Russell can be either very very good or very very bad
— Danny O Brien 📻️⚽️🏉📖 (@DannyEdoBrien) September 22, 2019
Today he was, wait Finn Russell was on the field??#IREvSCO https://t.co/N9SJRdFAAx
Ireland vs Scotland player ratings
Ireland: Jordan Larmour – 7, Andrew Conway – 7, Garry Ringrose – 6, Bundee Aki – 6, Jacob Stockdale – 7, Jonathan Sexton – 6.5, Conor Murray – 9, Cian Healy – 8, Rory Best – 7.5, Tadhg Furlong – 8, Iain Henderson – 8.5, James Ryan – 8, Peter O’Mahony – 7, Josh van der Flier – 7.5, CJ Stander – 8
Scotland: Stuart Hogg – 5, Sean Maitland – 5, Duncan Taylor – 6.5, Sam Johnson – 6, Tommy Seymour – 5, Finn Russell – 4, Greig Laidlaw – 5, Allan Dell – 5, Stuart McInally – 6, WP Nel – 7, Grant Gilchrist – 6, Jonny Gray – 6, John Barclay – 5.5, Hamish Watson – 5, Ryan Wilson – 5