Irish star Byrne holds his nerve to put boot into Aussies in Dublin

IRELAND ended a stellar 2022 with a record-equalling 12th consecutive home win with victory over Australia in Dublin.

A late Ross Byrne penalty clinched victory for the hosts, who had been pegged back by the Wallabies.

Ireland captain Johnny Sexton was a late withdrawal. Munster fly-half Jack Crowley, who only made his Test debut last weekend, was thrust into the Irish starting XV, with Ross Byrne added to Andy Farrell’s bench. Sexton had been set to return from a dead leg but did not warm-up with the team.

Ireland led 3-0 at the midway point of the first half thanks to a Crowley penalty.

Australia thought they had scored a fourth-minute try but scrum-half Nic White’s effort was disallowed due to Dave Porecki’s high tackle on Josh Van Der Flier.

Ireland remained 3-0 ahead at the end of a stop-start opening period littered with errors.

Australia’s replacement prop Folau Fainga’a was sin-binned just before the interval following a high tackle on Van Der Flier. With 20 minutes remaining, Australia had levelled at 3-3 thanks to a Bernard Foley penalty.

Ireland scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park briefly thought he had claimed the opening try of the evening seven minutes after the restart but replays showed Mack Hansen had entered touch before offloading.

Bundee Aki burst his way through two Australian players to touch down and Crowley converted to put Ireland 10-3 ahead.

But Australia pulled level on 72 minutes as Jordan Petaia finished off a well-worked move and

Foley kicked the extras.

And just as it seemed the match was heading for a draw, replacement Byrne kept his nerve to seal victory.