Following a 36-14 defeat to France in the Six Nations opener at the Stade de France on Thursday, here are the player ratings for Ireland.

15 Jamie Osborne: Started the match with a fantastic 50/22, which set up a superb position for the visitors, but he spent the rest of the half trying to clear up the mess in the backfield. Osborne did a reasonable job considering he was under so much pressure. 6

14 Tommy O’Brien: Chased and harried but he could not get enough purchase with the aerial game and as the match wore on he found himself having to do more work in defence. A difficult day for him. 4

13 Garry Ringrose: Barely noticeable quite frankly, irrespective of his break late on. Didn’t have too many opportunities with ball in hand and could not halt the French juggernaut in defence. 5

12 Stuart McCloskey: A couple of decent carries, which is better than many of his team-mates, in the first half before very much coming into the game after the break. McCloskey emerged with real credit with his display in the second period. 7

11 Jacob Stockdale: Given an opportunity ahead of the out-of-form James Lowe but it was a day to forget for the left wing. Stockdale’s defence has been criticised in the past and his tackle attempt on Louis Bielle-Biarrey for the first try was abysmal. It didn’t get much better after that. 4

Terrible performance

10 Sam Prendergast: It gets to the point where you question if a 10 can continually get picked when they can’t tackle or, as it seems at times, simply won’t tackle. Prendergast started off well enough with a lovely cross-field kick but his defensive issues then cost Ireland. He refuses to put his body on the line which is unacceptable at any level but particularly in the Test arena. An utterly woeful display. 3

9 Jamison Gibson-Park: Prendergast should ultimately look to his half-back partner when it comes to mindset. Gibson-Park had a rough day, getting smashed a few times by the France behemoths, but he kept coming back for more. Struggled behind a beaten pack but his basics were still solid. 5

8 Caelan Doris (c): Did all he could to inspire his side by attempting to slow the opposition ball down and carry into traffic. Doris also won one superb turnover, but it was all in vain. 6

7 Josh van der Flier: Similar to Doris, you could not doubt his work ethic, but the forwards were simply monstered in most facets and Van der Flier was powerless to stop it. 6

6 Cian Prendergast: Perhaps one of the more surprising inclusions in the Ireland XV but he could not impact the game, despite a couple of positive contributions. A big learning curve for Prendergast, who will hopefully get more game time to develop. 5

France begin Six Nations title defence in style as first-half masterclass rocks crestfallen Ireland

Excellent second half effort

5 Tadhg Beirne: Along with Doris, McCloskey and Van der Flier, Beirne was one of the better Ireland performers in the first half before he excelled after the interval. Won three excellent turnovers at the breakdown and did some good things in the lineout on both sides of the ball. 7

4 Joe McCarthy: Helped to stop the France maul from gaining too much traction, but there were a couple of needless penalties, including one absolute brain fade. Was taken off early in the second period. 4

3 Thomas Clarkson: There was plenty of concern for the scrum given their injuries, but Clarkson stood in pretty well for Tadhg Furlong and held up his side pretty effectively. 5

2 Dan Sheehan: The basics were solid enough, with his lineout work absolute pinpoint, but he’s certainly not been at his best since suffering that ACL injury in July 2024. 5

1 Jeremy Loughman: Plenty of pressure on the Munster loosehead, who is fourth choice in his position, but he battled hard. Did enough so that the scrum was not much of a factor. 5

Replacements: Brought some much-needed energy with Michael Milne excellent in the loose, while Nick Timoney and Jack Conan shone in the back-row and James Ryan added the niggle. Having that extra playmaker in attack with Jack Crowley also gave them more threat with ball in hand as the bench rescued them from embarrassment in the opening Six Nations clash. 8

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READ MORE: France v Ireland: Match details, stats, line-ups, scorers