Reaction: Ireland squeeze home against Australia
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What were the key moments in the Ireland vs Australia match?
Hello and welcome to the Counter-Rock Rugby Podcast brought to you by the Irish Times in partnership with Oak Energy. Ireland have just beaten Australia 33 points to 31. A dramatic late missed kick from Ben Donaldson, meaning Ireland just about cling on to come from behind victory. Thomas Clarkson with the winning score and Sam Prendergast with what turned out to be the winning conversion. How convincing were Ireland? Was this just a bit of a rusty display, but nonetheless a winning one at the start of this important three-week window? Joining me to discuss that are Gordon Darcy, and then he's going to be joined by John O'Sullivan later on. Gordon Darcy, hello. What are we, about 20 minutes, half an hour maybe?
After Ben Donaldson's kick was pushed to the right-hand side, I always thought it was a bit ambitious to go for the kick in that situation, but he took it on himself.
How did Ireland manage to secure a narrow victory?
He said, I'm going to win this game for Australia. It just looked like he was looking for extra distance, pushed it well out to the right. Ireland survived. I think they were 12 points down at one point. We looked out of sorts for 35, maybe 37 minutes before that last try of the first half, but they pulled out a win and we'll get into the bones of it now in a second. But as a one-off win to start this campaign, a lot of travel to Australia, etc. I'm sure Andy Farrell would be very happy with that.
Yeah, I think with all the context, with everything that's happening around us, end of season, Leicester being the main feeder into the team, losing Balakum just before the kick-off. Yeah, I'd be really, really happy with it. There's lots of work-ons, set-piece completely malfunctioned, but they looked like when they got into the 22, they got within 10 metres of the try line. They looked like they were going to be able to out-muscle Australia. So that was a good place to be. Defence was non-existent, really, in the first half. Australia just were able to pull them apart. But yet they found a way to stay in the discussion, and I thought James Gibson Park had an excellent start.
What were the concerns about Ireland's performance?
Final 30 minutes and the bench was very, very strong. So can you ask for more than that? I don't think so.
Maybe not after one game, after I think quite a lot of, well, maybe not quite a lot, but the non-lens to contingent haven't played in a while. You obviously have to factor in the travel and rust and you're playing against guys who have come from a super rugby season. Granted, I think the Australian teams haven't played in a while because they didn't get to the back end of the super rugby season, but maybe some of their players are a little more battle-hardened and they don't have the travel factor. But I just found myself thinking at one point, this is like watching Ireland... like the late Schmitt, early Farrell era Ireland at times. The arm wrestle bits that they did when they got into the 22 and just powered their way over, great.
That's fantastic. There'll never not be a place for that. But what happened before then, for me, they relied a little bit on Australian ill-discipline to get into those positions. Yeah, that's fair. The attack in the middle of the field looked like overplaying, lack of power in the carry, a little bit predictable. We saw some first half breakdown turnovers for Australia that looked a bit easy.
How did the missed kick from Ben Donaldson impact the game?
It just looked like it was Ireland kind of reverting to what they did before they started looking for this kicking transition game during the Six Nations. And I wonder, is that just because it's the first game of this block?
Okay, well then I suppose the counter to that is you can't have a game all your own way. And I think the try just before half time was a brilliant example of just playing heads up rugby, just going and kind of going for it. And they got the, they could have been safe and they could have been measured, which would have been more to that time. But they put their balls on the line and they went for it. And they got the, And they got a bit of a... You know, was the pass forward from Jack Conan?
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What were the key moments in the Ireland vs Australia match?
0:04–0:55
2
How did Ireland manage to secure a narrow victory?
0:55–1:59
3
What were the concerns about Ireland's performance?
1:59–3:03
4
How did the missed kick from Ben Donaldson impact the game?
3:03–4:03
5
What factors contributed to Ireland's rusty display?
4:03–5:15
6
How did Ireland's bench influence the second half?
5:15–6:20
7
What tactical adjustments did Ireland make after halftime?
6:20–7:42
8
What lessons can Ireland learn from this match moving forward?
7:42–26:43
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from The Counter Ruck: The Irish Times Rugby Podcast
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