{"id":532951,"date":"2026-07-04T16:36:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T16:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/532951\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T16:36:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T16:36:11","slug":"ireland-player-ratings-v-australia-hugo-keenan-back-with-a-bang-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/532951\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland player ratings v Australia: Hugo Keenan back with a bang \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

15 \u2013 Hugo Keenan<\/p>\n

Brilliant cover tackles in the first half saved two certain tries for Australia<\/a> and was one of the few Ireland<\/a> players who made it beyond the initial collisions in attack. Tagged on a try in a superb all-round display. Rating: 8<\/p>\n

14 \u2013 Jimmy O\u2019Brien<\/p>\n

A couple of turnovers, one flicked offload that went to ground as he tried to get into the game having been a late call-up for the injured Rob Baloucoune. Probably a little overanxious and therefore forced things a tad. Conceded a silly obstruction penalty. Rating: 5<\/p>\n

13 \u2013 Garry Ringrose<\/p>\n

Nice short pass for the Jamison Gibson-Park try, and showed the same appreciation and vision for Hugo Keenan\u2019s try. He threw himself into tackles, missed a couple of ruck clear-outs, while the Aussies got plenty of room in the midfield. Rating: 6<\/p>\n

12 \u2013 Stuart McCloskey<\/p>\n

Turned in a high-calibre individual display, winning turnovers at the breakdown, regularly beating or occupying multiple tacklers. Gave Ireland positive gain-lines. A key carry for the Cian Prendergast try. Rating: 7<\/p>\n

11 \u2013 Jamie Osborne<\/p>\n

Suffered a few difficult moments in defence, not so much tackling as decision-making, which were understandable to some degree in playing out of position. Never got a decent pass or chance going forward. Replaced in the second half. Rating: 5<\/p>\n

\"Ireland'sIreland’s Sam Prendergast in action. Photograph: Ben Brady\/Inpho 10 \u2013 Sam Prendergast<\/p>\n

A couple of brilliant line-kicks, he landed the match winning conversion, and one or two trademark nicely timed passes in a mixed bag display. Brave in the tackle but still missed a handful, he needs to bring more presence to his game management. Intercepted for one of the Aussie tries. Rating: 5<\/p>\n

9 \u2013 Jamison Gibson-Park<\/p>\n

Another high-quality display, his clearances were prodigious for the most part and his kicking game in general was good. Brought tempo and direction to Ireland\u2019s attack and, apart from one pass, should be satisfied. Rating: 7<\/p>\n

1 \u2013 Tom O\u2019Toole<\/p>\n

Diligent and hard-working on both sides of the ball and tackled with precision. Carried frequently. Had to come back on after Jeremy Loughman\u2019s injury after he was done for a couple of scrum penalties. Rating: 6<\/p>\n

2 \u2013 Dan Sheehan (capt)<\/p>\n

There were issues at lineout time for Ireland, but that was a shared issue. Sheehan\u2019s all-round game was excellent, especially in carrying. Had a try harshly ruled out. Lovely timing of a no-look pass for Josh van der Flier\u2019s try. Rating: 7<\/p>\n

3 \u2013 Tadhg Furlong<\/p>\n

One trademark shuffle out of contact with good footwork. His work-rate was decent and was first to carry when the ball was slow. Occasionally used as a pivot in midfield. Rating: 6<\/p>\n

\"Ireland'sIreland’s Joe McCarthy is tackled by Australia’s Allan Alaalatoa and Jeremy Williams. Photograph: Ben Brady\/Inpho 4 \u2013 Joe McCarthy<\/p>\n

Quickly apprised of the folly of not using a little footwork in carrying as he was hit with several thunderous tackles, but one of his strengths is that it doesn\u2019t cost him a beat. Still managed to give his team ball to play off and a powerful maul presence. Rating: 6<\/p>\n

5 \u2013 James Ryan<\/p>\n

Tremendous work rate and application on both sides of the ball, where he was very effective in both. Will nevertheless be disappointed not to have held a potential try-scoring pass, and was pinged to rule out Sheehan\u2019s try. Made a couple of solid turnovers. Rating: 6<\/p>\n

6 \u2013 Cian Prendergast<\/p>\n

A good lineout option, he showed power in contact for his try and made 17 tackles. Was caught a couple of times for Australian tries by not reacting quickly enough, although he wasn\u2019t helped by others around him who were arguably more culpable. Rating: 6<\/p>\n

7 \u2013 Josh van der Flier<\/p>\n

A bit of a surprise that he was taken off early in the second half. Made a staggering 19 tackles in 51 minutes. Also showed up on numerous occasions to carry and his try was smartly taken, holding his depth and timing the run. Rating: 7<\/p>\n

\"Ireland'sIreland’s Jack Conan in action against the Wallabies. Photograph: David Gray\/AFP via Getty Images 8 \u2013 Jack Conan<\/p>\n

A brilliant performance. His ability to ride the Australian tackles and make it out the far side was a massive factor in enabling Ireland to play. Covered so much ground in defence and showed excellent vision in his try assists. Rating: 8<\/p>\n

Replacements<\/p>\n

R\u00f3nan Kelleher, Nick Timoney, Tadhg Beirne and Ciar\u00e1n Frawley made crucial contributions, while Thomas Clarkson showed his power in scoring Ireland\u2019s final try. Bundee Aki will be the happiest man in Sydney that Ben Donaldson missed that penalty. Rating: 7<\/p>\n

Head coach \u2013 Andy Farrell<\/p>\n

Will be happy with the win and the improvement after the break but disappointed with aspects of the performance, particularly in the first-half. Some of his selection calls didn\u2019t work out like he would have hoped. Plenty to ponder. Rating: 6<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"15 \u2013 Hugo Keenan Brilliant cover tackles in the first half saved two certain tries for Australia and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":532952,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,1449,86133,43,5004,40,38,41,39,53328],"class_list":["post-532951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-ireland-rugby","tag-nations-championship","tag-news","tag-player-ratings","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-wallabies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=532951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532951\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/532952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=532951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=532951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=532951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}