Ireland 46 Australia 19
Oh ye of little faith. For three weeks, on and off the record, coaches and players alike had been telling us they had a performance like this in the making. And on a squally Saturday night in a packed Aviva, so a record win over Australia came to pass.
This was a well-timed reminder to themselves, the world of punditry and the supporters that Ireland remain a very good side.
“That’s a given for me,” maintained Andy Farrell, who was critical of the previous two displays but never lost faith in his team’s ability. “We’re a very good side. There’s no doubt about that. You could put in all sorts of reasons of why the first performance or the second performance or whatever, but that’s never been in doubt, in my mind anyway.”
Breaking free, in some respects from their own shackles, Ireland shot out of the blocks and then finished with a flourish, the replacements contributing to a true squad effort. They bookended the game with a Mack Hansen hat-trick in the first half-hour and another three tries in an expressive and clinical last 10 minutes.
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“Sometimes you prepare really well and it doesn’t transfer,” reflected Farrell. “We had an unbelievable warm-up out there today and I was going, ‘wow, if Carlsberg could do warm-ups, that would be it. But that doesn’t transfer either sometimes. I’ve seen unbelievably rubbish warm-ups and seen teams play well. So, it’s nice that we prepare well and we’ve got a performance on the back of it.”
There was also the palpable ripple effects of the international football team’s memorable night last Thursday.
“Yeah, it was class,” said Jack Conan of Ireland’s 2-0 win over Portugal – and this was before Sunday’s extraordinary events in Budapest. “A few of the lads went who weren’t involved and everyone’s kind of jealous that they went and a lot of us didn’t go, but it was on in the team room and we were loving it.
“You looked at Thursday night and the atmosphere here and it was class. You know, Aaron Rowe singing Amhrán na bhFiann, which was brilliant and the lads would know him quite well. We were loving that and even just the performance and the doggedness of how the lads played on Thursday night was unreal,” added Conan.
“We loved it and yeah, we talked about riding that wave of momentum.”
The same can be said of the coming week and surfing an even bigger wave in the light of the Republic of Ireland’s dramatic 3-2 win in Budapest, as Farrell’s team prepare to welcome the all-conquering, multi-faceted South Africa.
After their ominous 14-man win over France in Paris, Rassie Erasmus rested most of his frontliners for Saturday’s imperious 32-14 win over Italy in Turin, again achieved despite playing the majority of the game with 14 men.
They arrive as the world’s number one side and back-to-back world champions.
“Yeah, it’s great,” said Farrell of a perfectly scripted finale to the Autumn Nations Series and at an ideal kick-off time, 5.40pm, next Saturday.
“It’s a fantastic place to be, isn’t it? The best in the world, everyone’s talking about them and the type of rugby that they’re playing. A rich vein of form and rightly so. They’ve played some brilliant stuff.
“It’s a fantastic way to finish off our autumn. The last game at the Aviva. We’ll certainly enjoy this win, but the lads will be back on task and they’ll know what it means to everyone in Irish rugby as well, so we’ll look forward to that.”
Yet again, all Farrell’s selection hunches were vindicated, not least Hansen at full-back. He completed only the second first-half hat-trick of tries by an Irish player in Test history. The first to do it was Eugene Davy in 1930, in a 14-11 win over Scotland at Murrayfield.
“Well, he gets rugby,” said Farrell of Hansen. “He can make a difference within the game. And also he’s got a good feel in the backfield. He understands the depth perception and all of that. He’s obviously very good in the air and in conditions like that, it’s always going to help any team.
“He’s always been very good in the air. His skillset lends it to being that. He’s been brought up playing 10, 15 and wing. That’s why he’s such a nice player to watch.”
It helped that the lineout delivered a perfect 10 and the Paddy McCarthy-infused scrum was potent, with Dan Sheehan and Caelan Doris delivering big games in a strong Irish pack.
The confidence to stay positive, to keep trying things even after the inevitable mistakes on such a greasy surface and on such a wet and windy night, in many ways emanated from the calmness and inventiveness of Sam Prendergast.
Here, in tandem with Jamison Gibson-Park, who seems somehow to be playing at 100 miles an hour while in cruise control, Prendergast was the orchestrator in chief of the Irish game.
As well as his easy-on-the-eye control and array of passes, he and Gibson-Park terrorised the Wallabies back three, and particularly Max Jorgensen, with their aerial bombardment and variety of kicks.
The reconfigured backrow, with Doris at seven for the first 50 minutes, perhaps had one eye on the Springboks. The same may also be said for playing Gibson-Park at fullback for the last 10 minutes in considering a 6-2 bench split.
Gibson-Park applied the coup de grace with a cross-kick for Robbie Henshaw to score Ireland’s sixth try with the last play.
“He’s going to start at seven next week,” quipped Farrell. “He was playing touch rugby and just enjoying himself. He’s just enjoying himself. He’s tough, strong as well. What a player.”
While the unlucky Stuart McCloskey suffered a recurrence of the groin issues which forced him off in Chicago, Farrell expects to have Josh van der Flier and Garry Ringrose back in the mix. In a positive way, he has a number of selection considerations.
Scoring sequence: 6 mins Hansen try, S Prendergast con 7-0; 11 mins Hansen try, S Prendergast con 14-0; 18 mins Ikitau try, O’Connor con 14-7; 28 mins Hansen try 19-14; 40 mins McReight try, O’Connor con 19-14 (half-time 19-14); 57 mins Prendergast drop goal 22-14; 63 mins Crowley pen 25-14; 70 mins Doris try, Crowley con 32-14; 74 mins Pollard try 32-19; 78 mins Baird try, Crowley con 39-19; 81 mins Henshaw try, Crowley con 46-19.
Ireland: Mack Hansen (Corinthians/Connacht; Tommy O’Brien (Blackrock College/Leinster), Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Leinster), Stuart McCloskey (Bangor/Ulster), James Lowe (Leinster); Sam Prendergast (Lansdowne/Leinster), Jamison Gibson-Park (Leinster); Paddy McCarthy (Dublin University/Leinster), Dan Sheehan (Lansdowne/Leinster), Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster), James Ryan (UCD/Leinster), Tadhg Beirne (Lansdowne/Munster), Ryan Baird (Dublin University/Leinster), Caelan Doris (St Mary’s College/Leinster, captain), Jack Conan (Old Belvedere/Leinster). Replacements: Bundee Aki (Galwegians/Connacht) for McCloskey (28 mins), Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster) for McCarthy, Nick Timoney (Banbridge/Ulster) for Conan (both 48 mins), Rónan Kelleher (Lansdowne/Leinster) for Sheehan, Thomas Clarkson (Blackrock College/Leinster) for Furlong, Cian Prendergast (UCD/Connacht) for Ryan (all 58 mins), Jack Crowley (Cork Constitution/Munster) for S Prendergast (61 mins), Craig Casey (Shannon/Munster) for Gibson-Park (71 mins), Gibson-Park for Hansen (72 mins), Furlong for Clarkson (72 mins).
Australia: Max Jorgensen (NSW Waratahs); Filipo Daugunu (Queensland Reds), Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii (NSW Waratahs), Len Ikitau (ACT Brumbies), Harry Potter (Western Force), James O’Connor (Leicester Tigers), Jake Gordon (NSW Waratahs); Angus Bell (NSW Waratahs), Matt Faessler (Queensland Reds), Allan Alaalatoa (ACT Breumbies), Jeremy Williams (Western Force), Tom Hooper (Exeter Chiefs), Rob Valetini (ACT Brumbies), Fraser McReight (Queensland Reds ), Harry Wilson (Queensland Reds , capt). Replacements: Billy Pollard (ACT Brumbies) for Faessler, Tom Robertson (Western Force) for Bell (both 54 mins), Nick Frost (ACT Brumbies) for Williams (55 mins), Andrew Kellaway (NSW Waratahs) for Daugunu (59 mins), Zane Nonggorr (Queensland Reds) for Alaalatoa (61 mins), Carlo Tizzano (Western Force) for Valetini (63 mins), Ryan Lonergan (ACT Brumbies) for Gordon, Tane Edmed (NSW Waratahs) for O’Connor (both 71 mins).
Referee: Karl Dickson (RFU)
