Minute-by-minute commentary - as it happened

Full-Time
Ireland
20-20
Australia

Score details

  • Tries: Bowe, O'Driscoll. Cons: O'Gara 2. Pens: O'Gara 2
  • Tries: Mitchell, Elsom. Con: Giteau 2. Pens: Giteau 2. Pens: Giteau 2. Pens: Giteau 2. Pens: Giteau 2.

  • Conclusion: So, what have we learned. That Ireland are as undercooked as the kebab I 'enjoyed' in the early hours of this morning but have not lost the never-say-die spirit that delivered the Grand Slam. Australia are back as a force to be reckoned with, their scrummaging problems a thing of the past. And that touch-typing is bloody difficult to master. Thanks for all, well both, of the emails. Roll on Fiji.
  • 80 mins - Full time: As O'Gara's conversion sails through the posts, Kaplan blows for full-time. No question Ireland will be the happier with the result.
  • 79 mins - Try: Cometh the hour, cometh O'Driscoll. Ireland's captain hasn't enjoyed his best game but, on the occasion of his 100th Test, O'Driscoll enjoys the last word. He fixes the defence, hits the gap and scurries over from 10 metres. O'Gara kicks the extras and Ireland salvage an unlikely draw.
  • 78 mins: Ireland's reluctance to kick the points seems to have paid off as Tommy, Tommy Bowe barges through five tackles. But replays are unable to show whether he grounded the ball. Scrum five to Ireland.
  • 76 mins: O'Leary's crossfield kick comes to nothing but Australia infringe again. O'Gara chooses the corner once more.
  • 75 mins: O'Gara kicks for the corner again, O'Connell collects Ireland go wide. Earls is stopped short in one corner so Ireland go for the other, but Flannery is bundled into touch. Australia had strayed offside, though. O'Gara turns his nose up at the three points and kicks for the corner.
  • 68 mins: O'Gara finds a decent touch, the pack stick it up the jumper and the ball finds it's way to Tommy, Tommy Bowe. The winger juggles the ball metres from the line but is called back for a forward pass. Tony and Ryle on RTE, who managed to get seats in the press box (not bitter at all, just saying), don't agree.
  • 60 mins - Try: There's 20 minutes to go, but Rocky could have delivered the knockout blow. After stringing together 11 phases, Elsom barges past O'Leary and Kearney to touch down in the corner. Seems to enjoy Croker, does our, eh their, Rocky. Giteau sends over a wonderful conversion from the touchline.
  • 56 mins - Try: Healy sparks Ireland into life, bouncing tacklers out of his path as Ireland reacquaint themselves with the Australian half. After keeping it tight, the ball is sent wide to Tommy, Tommy Bowe who slides over from close range. Cue Daddy Cool. O'Gara converts and, entirely against the run of play, Ireland are level
  • 54 mins - Penalty: Surely Giteau can't miss this penalty. No, another three points. Ireland are beginning to get nostalgic for Aussie territory, it's been that long since they've seen it.
  • 53 mins: Keith Earls brought into the fray as Luke Fitzgerald hobbles off. Fitzgerald's injury looks serious.
  • 51 mins: Conor O'Shea, who controversially switched horses and tipped Ireland minutes before kick-off, is rueing that decision. "We're hanging on", he tells RTE viewers.
  • Ah, the ever reliable Ivan Cooper is still logged on and "still in the sandbagged trailer in Baghdad!". Barbara Thomas, meanwhile is "hoping for a better performance from Ireland in the second half."
  • 48 mins: Ashley-Cooper, looking a bit Clark Gable with his attempt at the old soup strainer, slices through the Irish defence but his support overruns the pass. All the penetration is coming from the visitors, is it too early to shake things up for Ireland?
  • 44 mins: I've just noticed Stpehen Moore's 'tache! Now it may be Movember and all that, but that is a shocking effort. Worth the admission money alone. In the meantime. Gitaeu misses his second kick at goal.
  • 41 mins: My half-time orange is rudely interrupted by the sound of discord in the RTE studio. Who would have thunk it? It Seems Uncle Tom is the only one who believes Palu should have been sin-binned. I, for one, agree with you Tom. Thuggery, nothing but thuggery. One thing they all agree on is Ireland need to up the tempo after the break. Oh, and we're back in action. . .
  • 40 mins - half-time: Kaplan blows for half-time. Pretty standard fare from both sides, with Australia looking the stronger at this stage. While there's been a lack of quality on the pitch, there's been a distinct lack of comment from readers, presumably unable to tear their eyes away from the screen. Anyway, I'm off for my half-time orange.
  • 39 mins: Palu returns to a chorus of disapproval.
  • 38 mins: Tomas O'Leary the latest to fall foul of Kaplan's stopwatch at the breakdown. The scrumhalf is deemed to have held on for too long on the ground as Ireland surge forward. Just how long, exactly, is too long? One second, half a second?
  • 34 mins: Kearney's head seems to have cleared, thankfully, and he engages in a but of ariel ping pong with the Aussies. All a bit dull, if truth be told.
  • 29 mins: Palu cleans Kearney's clock with a huge hit. The number eight is adjudged not to have used his arms in the tackle, though, and will spend 10 minutes in the bin. Australia down to 14, although given the way Kearney is staggering about, Ireland might as well be a man down too.
  • 27 mins: Ireland's mini-revival was just that - mini. Australia back bossing possession and Giteau, looking every inch the class act we had been promised, almost skates home. The outhalf is stopped three metres short and Ireland clear.
  • 25 mins: So Rocky doesn't carry enough ball for Australia? Well, he's just made 50 metres with a trademark burst.
  • 24 mins - Penalty: Giteau restores four point lead after Ireland infringe at the ruck.
  • 22 mins - Penalty: Now Ireland are building some momentum. Wallace (David, that is, Paddy's hardly a colossus) carries three defenders on those broad shoulders and Australia concede the penalty in front of the sticks. Without having played all that well, Ireland trail by just one.
  • 18 mins: Ireland finally put some width on the ball. It swings right, left, then right again. Paddy Wallace gets scragged and is pinged for holding on. Give him a chance, ref, he’d barely hit the deck.
  • 15 mins: Ireland haven't settled but Australia miss an opportunity to stretch the lead, sending a kickable penalty wide. Perhaps all that talk of being undercooked wasn't so far off the mark. The Wallaby ball carriers are targeting O'Gara's channel. Obvious but effective tactic.
  • 12 mins: The home side remain on the back foot and Giteau sends a sublime kick into the corner but indiscipline costs the visitors. O’Gara clears the lines.
  • 8 mins: Cian Healy gets his hands on the ball, well sort of. His block down on Giteau has the Wallabies in reverse. Again, Ireland turn over ball in an attacking position though.
  • 5 mins - Penalty: Ireland narrow the deficit with O'Gara slotting over a penalty following a perplexing decision from Jonathan Kaplan. Thank you Mr Kaplan, sir.
  • 3 mins - Try: Disaster. Ireland spread the ball wide, O'Driscoll can't collect and Drew Mitchell scoops up the loose ball and scampers home. O'Driscoll won't enjoy seeing that on the video. Giteau knocks over the conversion. Ireland weren't expecting that, explains Ryle Nugent on RTE. Thanks for that Ryle.
  • 1 min: O'Gara gets proceedings underway. Quade Cooper gets his first touch but scufss the clearance into touch. Ireland turn over the ball in contact and the attacking position is lost.
  • The teams are out: Brian O'Driscoll leads Ireland out for his 100th cap - only 94 of those in the green of Ireland mind. Elsom received a warm(ish, must be some Munster men in) welcome from the Irish fans. Just the formalities of the anthems, all three of them, before kick-off.
  • Team news: And so to the team news. Jerry Flannery's troublesome calf injury doesn't keep him out of the starting line up but what odds on him finishing the match? John Hayes hasn't played since his stray boot earned a six-week hiatus so the Irish front row is seriously short of match time.
  • Predictably, Rockymania has surrounded the Aussie build-up with the former Leinster man commandeering all the column inches this week. But these young Wallabies posses all sorts of attacking threats and the bookies make them slight favourites and it's foolhardy to disagree with turf accountants.
  • Yet more pre-match: After last night's disappointment, when those pesky surrender monkeys pointedly refused to surrender, it's up to the rugby boys to lift the mood. The soccer crowd have been cleared away to make way for the better heeled rugby contingent. I might be writing this from well over a mile away but I can detect a distinct whiff of sheepskin in the air.
  • Spare a thought for Gavin Cummiskey, who's had nary a wink of sleep after spending the night checking out how the Croke Park transformation unfolded. Read how he got on in tomorrow's Irish Times.
  • Guinness have also been busy erecting novelty goalposts outside various hostelries across the city. Dublin's student population is sorted for Christmas decorations, then.
  • More pre-match: In the interests of full disclosure, it should be noted that this commentary isn't coming to you live from Croke Park - no room at the Press Box Inn - but from the cosy confines of Irish Times headquarters. Still, at least we won't miss whatever pearls of wisdom Hook and Popey choose to dispense. What a performance on the Late Late, by the way, an early contender for the Eurovision Song Contest?
  • Pre-match: When the Sports Editor gently persuaded (ie press ganged) me into taking on this gig it was suggested I would need touch-typing skills, a sense of humour and an appreciation of the finer points of the breakdown. In that order. Hmmm, that's me shafted. Anyway, feel free to send in your comments / complaints to noreilly@irishtimes.com
  • Ireland: R Kearney (Leinster); T Bowe (Ospreys), B O'Driscoll (Leinster, capt), P Wallace (Ulster), L Fitzgerald (Leinster); R O'Gara (Munster), T O'Leary (Munster); C Healy (Leinster), J Flannery (Munster), J Hayes (Munster), D O'Callaghan (Munster), P O'Connell (Munster), S Ferris (Ulster), D Wallace (Munster), J Heaslip (Leinster). Replacements: S Cronin (Connacht), T Court (Ulster), L Cullen (Leinster), D Leamy (Munster), E Reddan (Leinster), J Sexton (Leinster), K Earls (Munster).
  • Australia: A Ashley-Cooper (Brumbies); P Hynes (Queensland Reds), D Ioane (Queensland Reds), Q Cooper (Queensland Reds), D Mitchell (NSW Waratahs); M Giteau (Brumbies), W Genia (Queensland Reds); B Robinson (NSW Waratahs), S Moore (Brumbies), B Alexander (Brumbies), J Horwill (Queensland Reds), M Chisholm (Brumbies), R Elsom (Brumbies, capt), D Pocock (Western Force), W Palu (NSW Waratahs). Replacements: T Polota-Nau (NSW Waratahs), M Dunning (Western Force), D Mumm (NSW Waratahs), G Smith (Brumbies), L Burgess (NSW Waratahs), R Cross (Western Force), J O'Connor (Western Force).