Australia vs Ireland – Jamison Gibson-Park scores his sides 3rd try of the match (Image: ©INPHO/Ben Brady)
The Nations Championship has all the hallmarks of a slowburner, a new rugby World Cup launched in the middle of a very old soccer World Cup in full flow.
But Ireland’s win over Australia as France and England were losing to the All Blacks and South Africa respectively has, nonetheless, seen Ireland break first from the traps.
And while there was plenty to be joyous about in a five-try win in Sydney, the idea that Ireland overcame a number of problems on the run is irresistible.
Not least was the self-correction involved in jettisoning James Lowe which began with Mack Hansen being injured, Tommy O’Brien pulling out of the tour late and Robert Baloucoune pulling out of the match late.
This macro-picture pointed to the best of Ireland—players problem solving; but it also pointed to the micro-picture of the worst in Ireland – missing 31 tackles.
Ireland’s maul was absolutely outstanding and augurs really well. Ireland’s lineout, missing Caelan Doris, can clearly operate better. Ireland’s scrum was problematical.
Andrew Porter, Paddy McCarthy and Jack Boyle can’t get back soon enough, and even then, the worry is they might not be bringing the right mechanics.
Notwithstanding the Lowe-Hansen-O’Brien-Balacoune and Osborne-for-a-day roundabout, Ireland missing 31 tackles against Australia in Sydney seems like a lot.
Ireland’s Sam Prendergast and Head Coach Andy Farrell celebrate after the match (Image: ©INPHO/Ben Brady)
Or maybe not.
Jacques Nienaber says ‘Missed Tackles’ is the single most misleading game statistic; Simon Easterby doesn’t talk of them with any great passion either way; fans tend to gasp at the higher numbers as players such as Garry Ringrose miss 40 percent of their international tackles.
Saturday’s demerits had Sam Prendergast missing six, Dan Sheehan, Bundee Aki (only on 20 mins) four, Jamison Gibson-Park three, Garry Ringrose, Stuart McCloskey, James Ryan and Joe McCarthy two apiece.
Narrowing that, the Irish centres missed eight tackles between them albeit Nienaber says this is the least important pitch area in this category (once they don’t become linebreaks if I understand him correctly).
More good news was that Lions burnout didn’t cost Ireland 12 months down the line, also there was a first-up competition debacle such as in the 2026 Six Nations in Paris.
Indeed Ireland don’t just live to fight another day. They get a chance to go under the bonnet ahead of playing Japan next Saturday in Newcastle, which is a two hour drive from Sydney.
“I suppose it’s a good game for us because there’s plenty to fix and we need to fix it properly for what’s coming ahead, including next week,” said Farrell presumably patting the match points in his back pocket.
“So it’s a good place to be fixing stuff and earning a hard-fought win at the same time.”
Farrell didn’t go as far as to say Jamison Gibson-Park’s try just before the break had saved the day but he wasn’t far off.
“It was huge,” he said. “We referenced it, obviously. I mean, it was a hell of a try.
“That’s what we pride ourselves on. Everyone being involved, everyone being an option, working hard to make sure that we’re able to make things work as a group and we certainly were on that occasion.”
Ireland’s Jack Conan celebrates with Stuart McCloskey after Tom Clarkson scoring his sides fifth try of the match in the 78th minute(Image: ©INPHO/Ben Brady)
Still, there was the tension of watching and waiting as Ben Donaldson tried to land a difficult, match-winning, penalty on full-time:
“Honestly, I thought he’d get it because the one that he had before, when you have an opportunity and it doesn’t quite go right the first time, you know what to fix or whatever.”
“But having said that, it was a long way out. A tough, tough old kick. It’s a shot to the dark, really. Fine margins, isn’t it? That’s top-level Test match rugby. That’s how it should be.”
Meanwhile, Joe Schmidt’s Australia had come close to beating Ireland, adding their name to wins over the Lions, South Africa, England, Argentina (twice) since taking over in January 2024.
His record of 17 games played and eight won would have tipped past 50 percent and with fixtures against France and Japan to come, it’s unlikely this will happen before his reign ends in a fortnight’s time.
His side had controlled the controllables, yet they lost by two points having missed two first-half conversions and a penalty with the last kick.
He had a small whinge about Jamison Gibson-Park’s try, claiming the pass from Jack Conan was ‘forward,’ but officials checked it at the time and judged it okay.
That his side buckled three minutes from time was part of rugby’s fit for purpose rule; repeated penalties defending close to your own line brings a warning and the next player to infringe gets sin-binned.
The Wallabies committed 72nd, 74th and 75th minute penalty offences and, consequently, were down to 14 men when Ireland scored the winning try after 77 minutes.
Demonstrably, it was the better of the two sides that went ahead and apart from Bundee Aki giving away a crazy penalty it was long-odds the 14 would comeback.
Joe Schmidt (Image: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Interestingly Schmidt revealed afterwards that he had tried to get a message on at the death to advise his side not to kick for a goal but opt for a scrum.
So pack down with seven men, go for ‘channel one’ ball and pit the seven Aussie backs against the seven Irish backs, looking for the discord in the wide channel that marked their opening two tries.
The message didn’t get onto the field in time, Australia had already signalled a kick and, once called, that can’t be changed.
“We had two chances to close it out in the end,” said a dignified Schmidt afterwards, without any histrionics, and opting for open play.
“Sometimes they don’t come off, but I was really pleased with how we started the game.
“But we knew that they convert very, very well from any position they get inside the 22.
“So what we couldn’t afford is what we did in the second half and give them so many opportunities to come into our 22. Leading 24-12, we missed (scoring from) two linebreaks.
“When you don’t convert, you pay the price.”