Ireland hold off Australia for a sensational win
Ireland march on, and in what spectacular fashion. Not since England’s World Cup-winning vintage of 2003 have a northern hemisphere side completed victories against the Southern Hemisphere ‘Big Three’ in the same year and this magnificent victory over Australia underscored Joe Schmidt’s side’s status as a world force again, backing up their historic wins over South Africa in June and New Zealand earlier this month.
With England on their phenomenal winning run and Scotland also on the rise, the Six Nations Championship cannot come soon enough.
It was a simply sensational Test match, the brilliance of the entertainment matched by the attacking verve and character of both sides, and it provided a fairytale finish for Ireland captain Rory Best on his 100th cap.
If the first half was a tale of Ireland’s spell-binding dominance, the second became one of a rearguard action as injuries to Rob Kearney, Andrew Trimble and Jarod Payne forced reshuffles of the Irish backline, scrum-half Kieran Marmion deputising on the wing and fly-half Joey Carbery at full-back.
“That was one of my proudest moments with this side,” said Joe Schmidt, the Ireland head coach. “They all showed huge character. It was incredibly special for Besty on winning his 100th cap but everyone
Best was Ireland’s totemic figure, particularly when the game looked to have been snatched from Ireland’s grasp when the Wallabies seized the lifeline provided by Dane Haylett-Petty’s try at the end of the first half as they took full advantage of Ireland’s injury disruptions to score further tries by Tevita Kuridrani and Sefanaia Naivalu.
It was in contrast to the first half, when Ireland dominated and raced into a 17-0 lead following tries by Ian Henderson and Garry Ringrose, with Paddy Jackson marshalling his side superbly. A second penalty by Brendan Foley put Australia 24-20 in front but Schmidt’s men picked themselves up and and reclaimed the lead with a superb try by Keith Earls. This time, they would not surrender it again.
“It was a very special and emotion day,” said Best, who received a standing ovation when he left the field. “To get that reception when I came off shows why it is so special to play for that green jersey. To beat the Southern Hemisphere sides is a pretty big achievement and to do it with so many players is a good sign for us about our depth.”
Once again Ireland’s discipline was critical, conceding three penalties to Australia’s 13. Against New Zealand and Australia, their combined penalty total was 11, to 39 by their opponents.
Michael Cheika, the Australia head coach, said the penalty count against his side made it an impossible task and indicated he would consult World Rugby referee’s chief Alain Rolland about the decisions of the French official Jérôme Garcès.
“We played a lot of footie at the end but we got penalised a lot and it cost us field position and territory and you can’t win a Test match giving away that many penalties,” Cheika said.
Ireland had begun with the intensity of their gladiatorial challenge against the New Zealand last Saturday, not showing the effects of any disruptions of losing such key player-makers as Jonathan Sexton, Robbie Henshaw, Donnacha Ryan and Sean O’Brien.
It was a thunderous stuff, with the only frustration for Schmidt the inability to make more of such early dominance of possession and territory.
When Mumm was shown a yellow card for lifting up the leg of Ireland prop Tadhg Furlong, Ireland stuck through a try by Henderson. A chip by Zebo was taken by Earls and his pass inside to Henderson created the space for the Ulster lock to race to the line.
A maul by the Irish pack culminated in another penalty and after Jackson again kicked to the corner, Garry Ringrose picked up a loose pass and skipped through a hole in the Wallaby defensive line for Ireland’s second try.
Australia, despite playing with only a quarter of possession and a creaking scrum, created a lifeline for themselves when a brilliant piece of attacking play directed by Foley enabled Dane Haylett-Petty to score under the posts.
Australia then attacked Marmion’s channel several times after Payne did not reappear after half-time, with Israel Folau putting Kuridrani over in the corner. With Foley’s conversion, suddenly it was a three-point game.
A second Jackson penalty gave Ireland some breathing space, but Australia finally snatched the lead when Naivalu ran a deep line to score from Hodge’s pass and a Foley penalty extended their advantage to four points.
A line-out maul created the overlap for Earls to score Ireland’s third try. Jackson landed the conversion.