Most of the reaction to Australia's World Cup defeat of Ireland centred on the injury which terminated hooker Phil Kearns's career and the prospects of also losing number eight Toutai Kefu and centre Daniel Herbert to the tournament's disciplinary committee's deliberations. Concern that was justified yesterday when Kefu was banned for two weeks by the RWC disciplinary committee for punching. Herbert was cleared for making a dangerous tackle on Kevin Maggs.

Consideration of the match didn't flatter either team with the Australian media critical of their own team's poor display and dismissive of Ireland's.

Bruce Wilson in Adelaide's the Advertiser was particularly forthright: "Ireland was an uncoordinated and apparently ill-prepared side which is how Australia ultimately got away with it.

"In particular Ireland was let down by its two halves, Tom Tierney and David Humphreys who seemed to have no real game-plan apart from that old, worn Irish tactic, the up-and-under, that the Irish claim to have invented and call the Garryowen."

Wilson's short shrift didn't extend, however, to all Irish cliches: "There was widespread consternation at Lansdowne Road before the match began when it was discovered the engineering that drives the Guinness pumps had packed it in. Had the Irish XV put the same sense of urgency into beating Australia as went into getting the black stuff flowing again, there might have been a different result."

One Irish player whose sense of urgency was widely recognised was Trevor Brennan. According to the Melbourne Age: "Ireland's uncontrollable flanker succeeded in upsetting several Wallabies especially after his disgraceful shoulder charge of replacement hooker Jeremy Paul. Brennan suffered the consequences a few minutes later when Wallaby number eight Toutai Kefu used his head as a punching bag."

(Kefu has had to wait a little longer to suffer his consequences.)

Kearns's serious injury added a poignant note to the prophecy attributed to him in the Herald Sun: "Kearns had predicted the Irish would be `disruptive and a little dirty' and that's exactly the difficulty the Wallabies faced as they took the best part of an hour to get on top yesterday."

The Australian, which gave the match a lukewarm rating of five out of 10, was a little more encouraging to the team.

"Although the Australians might still under-use their primary strength out wide, they did create opportunities only for the finishing to lack the clinical touch that will be required in the weeks ahead."

The Advertiser's verdict was downbeat: "Given that it is difficult to make accurate cross-references from one rugby international to another, you can nonetheless believe that Australia would not have beaten either NZ or England on yesterday's form at Lansdowne Road".