Gavin Cummiskey gives his player ratings on the Irish team after their victory over Italy.

15 ROB KEARNEY 7/10
Having a fine tournament, his aerial dominance and hard running sees him regain the lofty status first attained during the Lions test series against South Africa in 2009.

14 TOMMY BOWE 8/10
Cruelly denied two tries but made a brilliant outside break, followed by an inside pass that put O'Driscoll over for the game-defining score. Back to his best.

13 BRIAN O'DRISCOLL 7/10
Moving up the gears now. Got through a massive amount of work and slipped into a neat line for his 45th international try.

12 GORDON D'ARCY 7/10
A rare line break led to Earls' first try to complement the dirty, unseen work he always gets through. Improved passing as well.

11 KEITH EARLS 7/10
Ireland's best finisher, as confirmed by his second try, did enough here to keep Andrew Trimble on the bench against Wales.

10 RONAN O'GARA 8/10
Six from seven. Set the tone for victory with two early penalties and rejected his natural instinct to chip kick when Italy were there to be gutted out wide.

9 CONOR MURRAY 7/10
The long term answer at scrumhalf, and probably the best foil for Mike Phillips next Saturday, his physicality and composure give him the look of a veteran.

1 CIAN HEALY 7/10
Gouged and punched, he struggled against Martin Castrogiovanni but out-muscled Salvatore Perugini in another heroic outing. 24 next Friday.


2 RORY BEST 6/10
Encouraging lineout rhythm with O'Connell and Heaslip, making his injury-enforced departure a serious worry.


3 MIKE ROSS 6/10
Popped out of three first-half scrums by Perugini but gained parity when Italy lost Castrogiovanni.

4 DONNCHA O'CALLAGHAN 6/10
Coughed up a few penalties and could have been binned but he took the responsibility to sacrifice three points to deny the opposition seven.

5 PAUL O'CONNELL 7/10
Lineout was smooth and more often than not he was the next man into the fray after the backrowers.

6 STEPHEN FERRIS 8.5/10
Best blindside flanker in the world? Carried relentlessly and beasted any Italian unfortunate enough to run at him. Immense and invaluable.

7 SEÁN O'BRIEN 8/10
Makes you believe anything is possible. Stood up to Mauro Bergamasco's attempts at intimidation, the hard yards he makes for this team can never be overstated.

8 JAMIE HEASLIP 7/10
With battering ram flankers, Heaslip has carved out his own niche by adopting an openside flanker's duties on opposition ball.