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1. Scott Sio
Nothing flashy, but scrummed well and made all his tackles (10/10), the last frontrower to be replaced. 7
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2. Brandon Paenga-Amosa
Probably the pick of the starting front rowers when it came to runs. A few bread and butter things; like lineout calls should be cleaned up when he gets more than five days in camp. Won the national anthem. 6
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3. Sekope Kepu
Rock solid as always, missing a bit of his usual dynamic ball running influence. Like Sio 100% strike rate, 11/11 tackles. 7
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4. Izack Rodda
Seemed to disappear in the shadow of Coleman’s influence, are they too similar? Like Kepu the stats have him not missing a tackle, with limited opportunity or effective runs. 6
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5. Adam Coleman
A game high 17 tackles with zero missed, some of them were devastating momentum-shifting tackles. A couple of silly shovels early in the first half were poor but his ‘foul play’, which cost Australia a try was the bigger stain on what would have been a brilliant game. If only he hadn’t “finished him off.” 7
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6. David Pocock
Massively influential performance on both attack and defence. 15 tackles and stole the ball back on at least a couple of occasions. Made more metres than any of our other starting forwards and was rewarded with the game-sealing try. 8 – G&GR MOTM
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7. Michael Hooper (c)
A somewhat unusually tight game from the captain, he was operating firmly in the guts of play. Out-pointed all but Coleman on D, but like others mentioned above, seemed to lack a bit of timing in the attacking contact area. The sparkle was when he belted underage Irish 10 Joey Carberry like a drunk step dad. 7
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8. Caleb Timu
Seemed to not get a lot of opportunity to show the attacking prowess that forced his selection with Pocock packing at 8 on attack. Rock solid on D with a 14/14 clip. I think he went off early in the 2nd due to a nosebleed from being lifted too high. 6
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9. Will Genia
The composure that makes him irreplaceable in the team was in full flight for this game, sharp decision making, sharp passing, sharp defence. Threw the two final passes for the tries, and beat more defenders than Folau, so I guess that makes up for relatively tame haircut. 8
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10. Bernard Foley
A mixed bag from Foley, he was at his best when he scored his first try and a rock on defence, but then got obsessed with cross field kicks, which more often than not had negative results. I don’t mind the experimenting, just don’t keep repeating the same one… 6
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11. Dane Haylett-Petty
I must admit I was sceptical about his inclusion, as he hadn’t played a lot this year, but he was classy this game. Made time for himself on the ball and was always making the right decision, the lead up to Foley’s try needed a player like with composure to make it work and Dane provided it, as he did again getting his body under the ball over the try line to deny what should have been 7 Irish points. 7
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12. Kurtley Beale
Beale was physically-enforcing in this game, which is scary because we all know he has the quickness and agility to do amazing things without relying on brute strength. It’s exciting to see a player add another dimension to their game on the biggest stage. It a pity that both his crispy passes to players on the outside in space either went wasted or wished away by a kiwi TMO. 7
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13. Samu Kerevi
Probably going to be my most controversial rating. Samu had an OK game on defence, with 8/10, but it was his terrible positioning on the left wing that has me perplexed. Firstly why was he out there and secondly you can’t pass it backwards to him with him that flat. A number of attacking moves stagnated due to this, would love to see him attacking in the centres running with confidence. 5
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14. Marika Koroibete
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15. Israel Folau
Gordon Bray said Folau had taken more marks in this game than in his whole career with with the Giants. He was amazing this game, it’s a pity his try was chalked off, some would say, due to a farcical decision. 8
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Finishers
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16. Tolu Latu
In a Campese like effort he somehow didn’t have to make a tackle after he came on. Line-out was working a bit better when he was on and he didn’t do anything wrong. 6
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17. Tom Robertson
Similar to Latu, didn’t really put a foot wrong after coming on for Sio, will he hold his place? If there’s any possible risk to 7A’s I’d say he’s certainly done enough. 6
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18. Taniela Tupou
The pick of the replacement front rowers by far, just gets through so much work and blessed with velcro hands too. I hope he does have 3 world cups (12 more years) in him. 8
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19. Rob Simmons
Good: Line-out worked better. Bad: Worst tackling clip for a forward (very high standards this game). Also got bailed out with knock-on adv. after not watching the halfback put him through a hole with the game on the line. 5
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20. Lukhan Tui
Too few minutes to rate accurately, somehow made 6/6 tackles though. 5
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21. Pete Samu
Immediate impact when he arrived with a ruck steal, he also joined Pocock as the only forward to make it into double figures in run metres. 7
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22. Nick Phipps
Threw 7 passes and made 3 tackles. 5
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23. Reece Hodge
Pretty quiet considering he had a bit of time on the park, made 3 runs for 12 metres with a tackle bust. 5
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THE PATENTED G&GR RATINGS GUIDE:
10 – A legendary performance to go down in the history books
9 – Outstanding performance: Man of the match shoo-in
8 – Excellent all-round game
7 – Good game with a few sparkles
6 – Solid performance
5 – Average – ho hum
4 – Below par
3 – Had a bad game
2 – Tell your story walking pal
1 – A complete joke
Player Ratings – Australia vs Ireland
