England player ratings: ‘Outstanding’ back becomes ‘Test match animal’ but debutant a ‘rabbit in the headlights’ in frustrating Six Nations loss
Ollie Lawrence and Cadan Murley in action for England v Ireland in the 2025 Six Nations.
Following a 27-22 defeat to Ireland in the Six Nations clash at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday, here are the player ratings for England.
15 Freddie Steward: The stats look great in terms of metres made as he ran pretty much everything back, but Steward didn’t create too many holes in the Ireland rearguard. There was one great take in the air, but the hosts wisely kept the ball away from him under the high ball. 6
14 Tommy Freeman: Scored the final try and competed well aerially, but Ireland generally shut down pretty well. Some good, some bad, but overall a positive contribution. 6
13 Ollie Lawrence: His best game in an England shirt? Probably, particularly in the first half where the talented Lawrence was outstanding on both sides of the ball. We have questioned whether the centre is a Test match animal, but he certainly looked that today. 8
12 Henry Slade: A nice grubber through for the first try but once again he didn’t really step up to the plate. There were some defensive issues as well in the second period. 5
Debut struggles
11 Cadan Murley: Had a great moment early on when he scored a debut try but a bit rabbit in the headlights after that. Made a couple of errors no Test player should ever really make, quite frankly. Murley should be backed next weekend as you can see the talent and potential, but it was a big learning curve in Dublin. 4
10 Marcus Smith: Brilliant in the first half, despite getting a yellow card. However, his team-mates just couldn’t give him the platform to bring the same creativity after the break. 7
9 Alex Mitchell: Kicking was good in the first half and he brought some good tempo to the game, but Mitchell struggled to control the game after the interval. 5
8 Ben Earl: Really good in the first half but didn’t get going in the second period and was duly replaced. 7
7 Ben Curry: Worked nicely in tandem with his brother as the plan to play with three opensides did its job in the opening period. 7
Top performance
6 Tom Curry: Absolutely superb from the other Curry. Made three breakdown turnovers, carried hard and was simply never away from the action. 8
5 George Martin: Physical and abrasive while he did his job in the lineout. There is certainly much more in the tank from him, however. 6
4 Maro Itoje (c): Led by his actions where he was a ubiquitous presence during his 80 minutes on the field. May have some complaints about the officiating, however, as England got on the wrong side of the referee. 7
3 Will Stuart: His battle with Andrew Porter ended up pretty even, with the scrum a bit of a mess throughout. 5
2 Luke Cowan-Dickie: Standing in for former skipper Jamie George, Cowan-Dickie was solid, but he certainly has more to give in the loose. 5
1 Ellis Genge: Was unlucky at the scrum. Appeared to have the edge on Finlay Bealham, who continually collapsed it, but it was Genge who was penalised when a decision was actually made. 5
Replacements: The majority came on when England were on the back foot and they just could not turn the tide. There was the odd decent rumble from Theo Dan, Tom Willis, Ollie Chessum and Chandler Cunningham-South, while Fin Smith had some decent touches, but it was interspersed with errors. 5
