5 players that impressed today

John Cooney

The former Leinster man fitted seamlessly into the number ten shirt today in the absence of Jack Carty. The Gonzaga veteran was moved, from his usual position of scrum-half, to the pivotal stand-off spot on the field. He was key to almost everything god that happened for Connacht today, scoring one try and set up a handful of other scores in his side’s crucial 66-21 thumping of Zebre. He also kicked wonderfully from the tee, putting over seven of his ten attempts. If Cooney continues to play like this Carty could be under serious pressure on his return from injury.

 

 

 

 

Hibbard put in a fantastic shift for Gloucester in Italy as he ran in 2 tries. The hooker has been in good recent form of late and kept up his good form with the Italian broadcaster awarding the former Welsh international the man of the match award. Could Rob Howley be tempted to re-call him into the Wales squad?

 

Tiernan O’Halloran

The Clifden native was absolutely immense today as he picked up the man of the match award. He scored two five pointers and was a threat to the Zebre defence all day. He carried a total of 20 times for a gain of 150 metres, averaging 7.5 metres a carry. He was particularly threatening on the counter-attack as he put his back three partner Matt Healy away down the outside a number of times. The fullback surely will be in the mind of Irish head coach, Joe Schmidt, who was present in Galway today.

 

 

 

 

Watson was immense for Edinburgh in the back row as they claimed a famous win over Harlequins at the Stoop. The Scotland international capped off a good couple of weeks for himself, signing a new deal with Edinburgh and also claimed the man of the match award today!

 

 

 

The England international was a pivotal part of the Saints' win over Castres running in two tries. For his first try he ran a great tight line off Stephen Myler to score in the opening 3 minutes of the game, with his second try coming after some good awareness after a scrappy ball from the scrum. Tom Wood gets an honourable mention after a great shift and try scoring performance today.