Ireland 27 Australia 24
In a wonderful climax to a wondrous month, this followed an uncannily familiar script and yet, in other ways, you truly couldn’t have made it up.
Two Novembers ago, Ireland ended off a stellar month by racing into a 17-0 lead before seeing that eroded and then eventually coming from behind themselves to win 26-23. Here again they saw a 17-0 lead wiped out but given the physical carnage that went with a 24-20 deficit entering the last quarter, there seemed no way back. This time they had to dig even deeper into their reserves, in every sense.
For starters, even Ireland's hard-earned 17-7 interval lead was scant reward for their total dominance of the first 35 minutes. Then, by the start of the second half, Ireland had lost three more backs in addition to the two ruled out from the first half of a week previously. After three reshuffles, only Conor Murray, Paddy Jackson and Garry Ringrose began the second half in the positions in which they started the first.
So, outside Ireland's second-choice outhalf and a twice-capped outside centre playing at inside centre, was a converted winger (Keith Earls) at outside centre, with a reserve scrumhalf (Kieran Marmion) on the right wing and a back-up, twice-capped 21-year-old outhalf (Joey Carbery) at fullback, along with another replacement, Simon Zebo, who had been introduced at fullback before switching to left wing.
Meticulous
Not even Joe Schmidt’s famed meticulous attention to detail could have prepared for this makeshift backline. They may as well have been introduced to each other in the car park.
And so the Wallabies, despite butchering a few tries, began spreading the ball across the width of the pitch and moving the ball out of contact as they do to supplement a trademark strike move before the break by striking twice more for a 24-20 lead.
And that looked to be that.
That Ireland could outscore Australia by 7-0 in the last quarter spoke volumes for their organisation in defence and attack, particularly through multiple phases and, of course, their character and belief.
The building blocks for the win had been the ones we’ve long since come to expect of this Ireland team; a more-than-solid scrum, an accurate lineout, a strong maul, accurate clearing out at the breakdown and a clever gameplan that was well executed.
There was also discipline, the 13-3 penalty count in Ireland's favour maintaining the 12-4 and 14-4 tallies in the two games against the All Blacks, and Ireland's first try came while Dean Mumm was cooling his jets in the sinbin after a tip tackle cum clear-out on Tadhg Furlong.
On the down side, Ireland’s defence bit in and there were 21 missed tackles, while their kicking game was decidedly dodgy. As was the case a week ago, two of the three tries conceded emanated from loose Irish kicks, namely Jackson and Zebo slicing left-footers directly into touch. Even at the death, Murray and Ringrose over-cooked hoofs downfield for the Wallabies to mount late counter-attacks.
Rich array
In fairness to Jackson, his five-from-five return was critical to such a narrow win, while Zebo again answered the call off the bench, at both fullback and then left wing. As in the games against the All Blacks, Zebo's rich array of kicks was demonstrated by his wicked bouncing grubber into the ground which Earls gathered to put the supporting Iain Henderson over for Ireland's first try.
Perhaps the most critical play of the game was shortly after Bernard Foley had extended Australia's lead to 24-20 just past the hour when Zebo raced up and nailed Michael Hooper close to the Australian line, and about 20 metres behind the gainline. It got the home team and crowd into the game, and it was from the ensuing territorial foothold that Ireland twice put together multiphase attacks – helped by the impact of Peter O'Mahony, Ultan Dillane and Cian Healy off the bench – which culminated in Zebo's skip-pass putting Earls over for a match-winning try wide out, which Jackson converted brilliantly.
Ireland always have a little more x-factor, a touch of the unprescribed, when Zebo is on the pitch.
But the key to the win, and two of their tries as well as much of the pressure that generated such ill-discipline from their opponents again, was the trademark of a Schmidt side – namely the accurate aggression at the breakdown on the back of strong carrying by, as ever, CJ Stander, (18 carries), Garry Ringrose (15), Zebo (12), Andrew Trimble (10), Josh van der Flier (nine carries to augment 10 tackles).
To negate David Pocock and Michael Hooper as they did was down to the willingness of all 23 players to clear those twin threats out as soon as either hovered over the ball in their characteristic poaching fashion.
Take the first try. After Trimble and the excellent Rory Best had trucked it up, Stander bludgeoned through Will Genia and Pocock hovered over the ball. Then two of three boys who became men in this window, Van der Flier and the immense Furlong, cleared him out, for Jackson to feed Zebo. Cue the grubber.
Similarly, for the third try, when O’Mahony made one of his charges, Pocock had his hands on the ball when he was brilliantly cleared out by Healy.
Against the grain
When Ringrose cut back against the grain and straightened through in the manner of Brian O'Driscoll, Ireland were full value for their 17-0 lead. From the off, they had identified the narrowness of Australia's defence by utilising the passing skills of Jackson and that languid, easy-on-the-eye style of Jared Payne.
But when Payne followed Rob Kearney and Trimble out of the game just as the teams returned for the second half, Ireland also lost their defensive linchpin.
Australia eyed up Ireland’s makeshift defence to supplement a pre-interval strike by the ever-dangerous Dane Haylett-Petty to win the collisions and find their passing rhythm, and tries by Tevita Kuridrani and Sefanaia Naivalu put them in front.
Helpfully, in the midst of all this, Ireland had been given what proved a valuable three points by Jackson thanks to Earls beating a lock, Kane Douglas, in the air to reclaim Jackson’s restart after Australia’s second try through Kuridrani, and Marmion taking it on the charge. Pocock was then penalised again for not rolling away after Furlong trucked it up.
Nearing the last 10 minutes, when Australia explored Ireland’s right flank again with Israel Folau and Reece Hodge running at Marmion and Carbery, the crowd held its collective breath. But, as in his hit on Pocock which forced a forward pass to Henry Speight, Marmion’s tackle was enough to force Folau into a high pass which Hodge couldn’t gather, as Carbery shot up on his inside. In all, Marmion made six tackles.
One for him, and all his team-mates, to tell the grandchildren about.
IRELAND: R Kearney (Leinster); A Trimble (Ulster), J Payne (Ulster), G Ringrose (Leinster), K Earls (Munster); P Jackson (Ulster), C Murray (Munster); J McGrath (Leinster), R Best (Ulster) (capt), T Furlong (Leinster), Iain Henderson (Ulster), D Toner (Leinster), CJ Stander (Munster), J van der Flier (Leinster), J Heaslip (Leinster). Replacements: S Zebo (Munster) for Kearney (11 mins), J Carbery (Leinster) for Trimble (31 mins), K Marmion (Connacht) for Payne (half-time), U Dillane (Connacht) for Henderson (56 mins), C Healy (Leinster) for McGrath, P O’Mahony (Munster) for Heaslip (both 61 mins), F Bealham (Connacht) for Furlong (71 mins), S Cronin (Leinster) for Best (76 mins).
AUSTRALIA: I Folau (Waratahs); D Haylett-Petty (Force), T Kuridrani (Brumbies), R Hodge (Rebels), H Speight (Brumbies); B Foley (Waratahs), W Genia (Stade Francais); S Sio (Brumbies), S Moore (Brumbies) (capt), S Kepu (Waratahs), R Arnold (Brumbies), R Simmons (Reds), D Mumm (Waratahs), M Hooper (Waratahs), D Pocock (Brumbies). Replacements: K Douglas (Reds) for Arnold (half-time), S Naivalu (Rebels) for Speight (56 mins), J Slipper (Reds) for Sio, A Alaalatoa (Brumbies) for Kepu, S McMahon (Rebels) for Simmons (all 68 mins), T Latu (Waratahs) for Moore (76 mins), Q Cooper (Reds) for Hodge (80 mins). Sin-binned: Mumm (24-34 mins), Foley (80 mins).
Referee: Jérôme Garcès (France).
