Ireland ended the calendar year on a high as they completed a GUINNESS Series clean sweep, holding on to defeat three-try Australia in thrilling fashion at the Aviva Stadium.
The home supporters were held spellbound as Joe Schmidt’s men swept into a 17-0 lead inside the first quarter of an hour, with Simon Zebo finishing off a well-judged Jonathan Sexton kick that sat up perfectly for the onrushing winger in the left corner.
Sexton brilliantly exploited the space in behind Adam Ashley-Cooper who had been pulled out of position after a well-executed choke tackle, and follow-up rip by the returning Rory Best, gave Ireland a quick turnover.
The seven-pointer, which took Zebo’s international tally to five tries in 11 starts, continued the team’s trend of building early leads against the southern Hemisphere heavyweights.
A long range intercept effort followed from Tommy Bowe in the 15th minute – his 28th try for Ireland – and Sexton converted both tries to add to his earlier penalty.
Bowe swooped on a Nick Phipps pass as the Australians looked to convert an overlap on the Irish 22, with the Monaghan man dashing away and reaching the line before the chasing Ashley-Cooper could get to him.
But resilient Australia were quick to respond. Turnover ball from Zebo’s attempted offload led to scrum half Phipps scampering away from Rob Kearney and Best for a seven-pointer from halfway.
Then, in the 23rd minute, TMO Eric Gauzins gave the thumbs-up to Bernard Foley’s scramble for the try-line from a flat pass in the right corner from Phipps.
Out-half Foley missed the conversion but was involved in the try of the game eight minutes later as some superb interplay from the Wallabies exposed a series of missed tackles and Matt Toomua and Foley combined to send Phipps over for his second score.
Michael Cheika’s side threatened again soon after, centre Toomua getting his offload away as Foley scampered up to the Irish 22. Devin Toner was pinged for a high tackle on Tevita Kuridrani and Foley slotted the three points for an impressive 20-17 turnaround.
Importantly, Ireland managed to respond before half-time. Firstly, they put a penalty towards the corner to press from a lineout maul. Australia managed to keep them out but an infringement in injury-time saw Sexton kick the hosts level.
After such a breathless, end-to-end first half, Ireland played a tighter game in the closing 40 minutes with the pack becoming more influential in retaining possession and building from set piece ball.
Australian flanker Luke Jones went off his feet at a 46th minute ruck, allowing Sexton to boot Ireland back in front at 23-20. The kick from outside the 10-metre line tested the Dubliner’s range, but his well-struck effort just had enough to clear the crossbar.
Foley answered back within three minutes as he punished Rhys Ruddock for breaking his bind early at a scrum – an area where the Wallabies notably exerted some pressure before the Irish eight responded in the closing stages.
The fast-paced action continued with Ireland maintaining a high intensity and digging deep in defence, some crunching tackles from Peter O’Mahony, Robbie Henshaw and try scorer Bowe shutting down Australian attacks.
It was Ireland’s turn to counter on the hour mark as they pushed the Wallabies off their own scrum ball and the visitors had a let-off when Rob Kearney’s high, raking drop goal attempt from 40-metres plus bounced back off the right hand post.
Ireland maintained their foothold in the Australian half, however, and James Slipper’s ruck infringement in the 64th minute saw Sexton split the posts to give his team-mates a timely boost and a slim 26-23 advantage.
Just like the Springboks a fortnight ago, Australia threw everything they could at Ireland’s defence in the final quarter. The men in green continued to make tackle after tackle, an important man-and-ball hit by Zebo thwarting them as they tried to work an overlap on the right.
Paul O’Connell also led by example in that regard, the tireless skipper clearly reveling in the physical exchanges as did the back row trio of O’Mahony, Ruddock and Jamie Heaslip.
O’Connell’s leadership qualities shone through too as Ireland negotiated a difficult patch when the back-line went through all sorts of changes in a short period of time.
Gordon D’Arcy had to come off before Sexton’s match-winning kick, and Conor Murray, Kearney Sexton were also unable to finish the game due to head injuries. Ian Madigan, Eoin Reddan and Felix Jones slotted in and more than did their bit as Ireland hung onto their three-point advantage.
The Irish scrum won a relieving penalty in their own 22, but they had to contain the attacking spark of replacements Quade Cooper and Kurtley Beale, allied to the ground-gaining bulk of Will Skelton, in a fascinating final few minutes.
At one stage, the hosts had two players down receiving attention and were effectively playing with 13 men. Through sheer will, commendable discipline and trust in their organisation and system, they held out.
An excellent touch-finding kick from centre Henshaw, coupled with two thunderous tackles by Sean Cronin and O’Connell, really knocked the stuffing out of the Australian attack.
Madigan then got over a ruck ball, with Bowe also foraging, to win a decisive last-minute penalty and with that, Ireland could celebrate their first November clean sweep since 2006.
That series eight years ago was also the only previous time they had defeated South Africa and Australia in the same year. In addition, this latest success over a southern Hemisphere side cements Ireland’s third place position in the IRB World Rankings.
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