Wales 22 Ireland 9: Ireland player ratings

Rob Kearney: Very upright early and got bumped in collisions rather than tackles on a few occasions; imperious in the air and he carried powerfully. Rating: 6.

Keith Earls: Not really at fault for North's first try as he was racing to cover. When he was given a modicum of space he showed what he could do but it was meagre rations. Rating: 6.

Garry Ringrose: Typically neat footwork at times and aggressive in terms of line speed in defence but never really got much of a chance. Rating: 6.

Robbie Henshaw: He put in some monstrous hits in defence and carried into two and three tacklers with great courage, giving his team positive gain-lines. Saved a certain try in an all-round brilliant display. Loses one mark for inadvertently preventing Irish try. Rating: 8.

Grand Slam in sight for Ireland if basic errors eradicated

---

No wins since 1983: will Scotland end their Twickenham hoodoo?

---

Liam Toland: Neutralise Alun Wyn Jones, neutralise Wales

---

Ireland U-20s must improve again to match impressive Wales

---

Simon Zebo: He had a fine start to the match, one intercept, two chips through and ran for over 100-metres with ball-in-hand. Rating: 7.

Jonathan Sexton: Superbly sharp and assured until the object of a couple of heavy tackles; two intercepts were important. No argument with yellow card. He more than anyone looked like the player who could unlock Wales. Rating: 8.

Conor Murray: His kicking was brilliant early on and he was having a fine game until picking up that arm injury in a brave tackle on North. Showed courage to stay on as long as he did and made some telling interventions. Rating: 7.

Jack McGrath: Great rip on Alun Wyn Jones, the loosehead prop was back to something close to his best with a lung-bursting effort until replaced. Rating: 7.

Rory Best: Massive work-rate and couldn't fault the perspiration but three lineout throws went astray at crucial times, not down to the hooker alone that's for sure but on small margins game won and lost. Rating: 6.

Tadhg Furlong: A couple of knock-ons and didn't make the same sort of yardage he's done in previous matches but huge number of carries and the ledger was definitely positive with a huge tackle count. Rating: 6

Donnacha Ryan: He's back to his best. A phenomenal number of tackles and one superb break in a brilliant performance. Rating: 8.

Devin Toner: Like his second row partner he made a ridiculous amount of tackles and also carried ball repeatedly in the same sequence of play. Rating: 7.

CJ Stander: Brilliant break fending off Scott Williams and running over Liam Williams but the Wales backrow double-teamed him and kept him reasonably quiet. Rating: 7.

Sean O'Brien: Few tried harder on the day but he just could not get away and the odd error and penalty crept into his game as he strained every fibre but well marshaled by the opposing backrow. Rating: 6.

Jamie Heaslip: A couple of uncharacteristic knock-ons and while he was typically industrious, Ireland were outplayed by their Welsh counterparts. Rating: 6.

Bench: Kieran Marmion did a superb job when he came on, so too Cian Healy, Peter O'Mahony and Iain Henderson in particular as they added value with the impact they made. Rating: 8

Coach: Joe Schmidt will probably look at a number of changes for the England game. It came down to small margins where Wales took their chances and Ireland failed to do so but the team definitely needs a couple of tweaks. Rating: 6.