Irish delight following an epic contest
iRelAND 27 AUsTRAliA 24
IRELAND won an epic contest against Australia – winning 27-24 at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.
Ireland took a 17-0 lead following tries from Iain Henderson and Garry Ringrose but Australia fought back with tries from Dane Haylett-Petty and Tevita Kuridrani either side of half-time.
A third Australian try from Sefanaia Naivalu just before the hour mark took the visitors into the lead for the first time in the match.
However, a third Irish try from Keith Earls swung the match back in Ireland’s favour and set up a frantic final 10 minutes as the home side held on for a famous victory.
Ireland’s Man of the Match Josh van der Flier said: “Australia are a brilliant team. We got knocked a couple of times in defence. They’re a class team and we had to grind hard.
“It’s always nice to get Man of the Match but you could have given it to any of the lads. We really stood up in defence.”
Australia skipper Stephen Moore said: “We didn’t have enough chances in first half. We worked our way back in and Ireland kept coming back. They deserved to win.
“We knew this was a fiveweek tour and now we’ve got to go again against England.”
WALES posted only a third victory over South Africa in 110 years as they ended their autumn Test series in winning fashion at the Principality Stadium.
Full-back Leigh Halfpenny kicked 17 points, while hooker Ken Owens and flanker Justin Tipuric crossed for second-half tries, giving Wales a record 27-13 triumph against the Springboks.