Ireland 15 Australia 6:THE BELIEF that there was a performance brewing in this Irish team was fostered not just by knowing what they're capable of, or of a selection which mirrored the thrashing of England or even that they're a big-occasion team with their backs to the wall. It was also the knowledge the players and coaching and management staff had been planning for this game for literally years.
Sure enough, cometh the night, cometh the near perfect amalgam of intensity and intelligence in what was, in essence, Irish cup rugby at its finest. As news filtered through first that the Wallabies had lost David Pocock, their arch exponent of the breakdown, then that Stephen Moore had come down with a bug, followed by a pre-match downpour and the 25,000-plus Irish fans descending on Eden Park, there was a palpable sense of something special brewing on this Auckland night.
So it came to pass, and the foundation stones for this famous win were the breakdown and the scrum. The emphasis on the breakdown continued almost up until kick-off. In one of their last pre-match drills, two players would take the ball into one of the tackle bags being held by replacements and a third came in two or three yards behind to clear out.
This set the tone for the night, Ireland rarely leaving runners isolated as they attacked in pods, with one or two maintaining their depth to clear out with low body positioning. The feeling was reinforced in Ireland’s response to Jonny Sexton cancelling out James O’Connor’s opening penalty, when Tommy Bowe brilliantly ran back the kick-off, and Ireland went through a multitude of phases highlighted by some good close-in offloading, notably when Rory Best took a clever line and popped the ball out of the tackle to the supporting Brian O’Driscoll, for Sexton to land a drop goal.
It was a fairly even, full-on battle in the first half especially, but Ireland had the edge at the breakdown, where they forced three turnovers to two and recycled more ball.
The “choke tackle” technique mastered under the tutelage of Les Kiss was in evidence from early on, where, as is his wont, Donncha O’Callaghan led the way, with a near demonic Paul O’Connell, Stephen Ferris and the rest of the pack all roaring in for the kill.
Moore too, was missed, though it’s doubtful he would have saved them from their latest World Cup scrummaging embarrassment, where man-of-the-match Cian Healy – in his finest hour in green – gave Ben Alexander a torrid going over. Sekope Kepu didn’t get much respite from Mike Ross either, and the last two penalties by Ronan O’Gara, which pushed Ireland two scores clear, were the result of the Aussie props crumpling under the pressure.
Before then, the third quarter was where Ireland ratcheted up their intensity, took the game to Australia and decisively pulled ahead. Stephen Ferris’ superb offload had Seán O’Brien galloping from inside half-way – the latter’s influence becoming more and more pronounced – in the prelude to Sexton putting Ireland ahead and then hitting the upright with another penalty.
The introduction of the wily O’Gara, along with the remarkably-composed Conor Murray, with Sexton moving to inside centre for the hamstrung Gordon D’Arcy, did little to dim Ireland’s increasing supremacy. The noise in a bubbling Eden Park was a barometer for what unfolded. As a raucous Irish support grew giddy with excitement, so the Aussies shrunk in their seats. As has been seen before, not least here in Eden Park when the All Blacks gave Australia a bit of a going over, the Wallabies can become rattled when things start going against them.
Ireland took a leaf out of that manual by stopping Will Genia and in turn stopping much of Australia’s game. One of the game’s defining moments was Genia picking up at the base of a retreating scrum and being picked up and frog-marched backwards by the immense Ferris.
There were still the occasional threats; Ireland somehow throwing their bodies on the line at both ends of the game as Australia camped on the Irish line. O’Brien had to extend himself fully to deny Genia in the endgame, as did O’Connell, somehow, when forcing an overcooked offload by Quade Cooper.
Again deployed at fullback in defence, with Adam Ashley-Cooper filling the number 10 channel, Sexton and co instead targeted the outhalf in the air. Booed whenever he touched the ball, Cooper’s game disintegrated a little, and when Bowe picked off a one-handed behind-the-back pass to gallop 70 metres upfield, the game was up.
In that and much else, Ireland shook the World Cup from its foundations, psychologically damaging Cooper et al, and perhaps steering them into the half of the draw they did want, nor did they expect.
Quite possibly over-confident, they’ll have a few regrets. The slight, slight pity from an Irish perspective is that Murray’s late “try” was over-ruled for offside, or that Sexton’s fifth penalty didn’t come back off the upright, but for which he might have taken the last two and come off the pitch with 18 points to his name, which would have done his confidence no harm. In having the ultra-cool O’Gara to call on though, Ireland assuredly have the best back-up outhalf in the tournament.
In any event, this vintage crop of Irish players have opened up all sorts of possibilities for themselves now.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 11 mins O’Connor pen 0-3; 15 Sexton pen 3-3; 18 Sexton drop goal 6-3; 24 O’Connor pen 6-6; (half-time 6-6); 49 Sexton pen 9-6; 62 O’Gara pen 12-6; 70 O’Gara pen 15-6.
IRELAND: R Kearney (Leinster); T Bowe (Ospreys), B O’Driscoll (Leinster, capt), G D’Arcy (Leinster), K Earls (Munster); J Sexton (Leinster), E Reddan (Leinster); C Healy (Leinster), R Best (Ulster), M Ross (Leinster); D O’Callaghan (Munster), P O’Connell (Munster); S Ferris (Ulster), S O’Brien (Leinster), J Heaslip (Leinster). Replacements: R O’Gara (Munster) for D’Arcy (49 mins), C Murray (Munster) for Reddan (59 mins), A Trimble (Ulster) for O’Driscoll (59-62 mins) and for Kearney (74 mins), T Court (Ulster) for Ross (77 mins).
AUSTRALIA: K Beale; J O’Connor, A Fainga’a, P McCabe, A Ashley-Cooper; Q Cooper, W Genia; S Kepu, T Polota Nau, B Alexander, D Vickerman, J Horwill, B McCalman, R Samo. Replacements: J Slipper for Alexander, R Simmons for Horwill (both 62 mins), W Palu for Elsom (73 mins), D Mitchell for Fainga’a (78 mins).
Referee: Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand).
