Ireland 18 Australia 9
A top class kicking display from flyhalf Ronan O'Gara inspired Ireland to their first victory over world champions Australia in 23 years with a 18-9 win at a rain-drenched Lansdowne Road today.
The Munster number 10 landed six penalty kicks from six and kicked superbly from hand in the try-less encounter, overcoming the wind and rain to cancel out three Matt Burke penalties for Australia.
Australia, clearly under par and second best for most of the match, laid siege to the Irish line in the final minutes, but the home defence held its discipline to secure their first win in Dublin over the Wallabies since 1968.
As the dejected visitors trudged off after the final whistle Ireland, skippered by centre Brian O'Driscoll in the absence of Keith Wood, were loudly cheered as they set off on a lap on honour.
"A pleasant experience to say the least," the Leinster centre quipped after his first outing as captain of his country. "We finally played for 80 minutes."
The game had begun at a frantic pace, with both sides struggling to come to terms with a drenching rain sweeping across the ground.
But Ireland, playing with the wind in the first half, soon took control, outplaying the visitors in the pack and showing disciplined defence and some fine handling, despite the wet conditions.
With 13 minutes gone Ireland turned their early advantage into points, with O'Gara knocking over a penalty awarded after George Smith went in high on Irish blindside flanker Victor Costello.
Smith was again the offender when O'Gara's boot doubled Ireland's advantage six minutes later, the Australian openside penalised for trying to slow down Irish ruck ball as the hosts threatened the world champions' line.
As the half hour mark approached the green jerseys swept forward again. O'Gara's sideways grubber kick found Shane Horgan steaming down the right wing, but, as the winger was held up just short of the line, the Australian defence crept offside.
O'Gara landed the resulting penalty from in front of the posts to give the Irish a 9-0 lead.
Australia took fully 34 minutes to register points on the scoreboard, fullback Burke landing a penalty which took his personal tally past 800 points in test rugby.
But as halftime approached Toutai Kefu was penalised at a ruck, and the Wallaby number eight compounded the offence by arguing with New Zealand referee Steve Walsh who moved the kick 10 metres closer to the posts. O'Gara sent the ball over the posts for his fourth kick out of four and Ireland left the field 12-3 up at the break.
Five minutes into the second half Burke narrowed the gap with his second penalty after Ireland were penalised for handling in the ruck, but two minutes later O'Gara restored Ireland's nine point cushion after Smith was again penalised.
Soon afterwards, Australia thought they had scored a try when centre Stirling Mortlock chased up his own kick, but after consulting the replay referee, Walsh ruled an Irish hand had got to the ball first.
O'Driscoll was then denied just short of the line by some desperate defence from George Gregan and O'Gara pushed Ireland further in front with a finely struck penalty into the wind.
The World Champions began to show some of the quality expected of them, and a period of Wallaby pressure ended with a third Burke penalty.
The final 10 minutes were played in a deafening atmosphere, as the Australians desperately chased a try. Twice in injury team the Wallabies ran penalties from short range, but resolute Irish tackling held them at bay.
Ireland's last win over Australia came in 1979, when the legendary Ollie Campbell kicked them to a 9-3 triumph in Sydney.
Scorers
Ireland
Penalty Goals: O'Gara (6)
Australia
Penalty Goals: Burke (3)
Ireland: Girvan Dempsey (Leinster); Shane Horgan (Leinster), Brian O'Driscoll (Leinster, capt), Kevin Maggs (Bath/Eng), Denis Hickie (Leinster); Ronan O'Gara (Munster), Peter Stringer (Munster); Anthony Foley (Munster), Keith Gleeson (Leinster), Victor Costello (Leinster); Malcolm O'Kelly (Leinster), Gary Longwell (Ulster); John Hayes (Munster), Shane Byrne (Leinster), Reggie Corrigan (Leinster)
Replacements used: Frank Sheahan (Munster) for Byrne (28-36, 80+2), John Kelly (Munster) for Hickie (41), Alan Quinlan (Munster) for Costello (70), Leo Cullen (Leinster) for Longwell
Replacements not used: Marcus Horan (Munster), Guy Easterby (Llanelli/Wal), David Humphreys (Ulster),
Australia: Matthew Burke (New South Wales (NSW)); Wendell Sailor (Queensland), Stirling Mortlock (Australian Capital Territory (ACT)), Daniel Herbert (Queensland), Scott Staniforth (NSW); Stephen Larkham (ACT), George Gregan (ACT, capt); Toutai Kefu (Queensland), George Smith (ACT), Matt Cockbain (Queensland); David Giffin (ACT), Owen Finegan (ACT); Patricio Noriega (NSW), Adam Freier (NSW), Nick Stiles (Queensland)
Replacements used: Justin Harrison (ACT) for Finegan (16), Ben Darwin (ACT) for Stiles (60), David Croft (Queensland) for Smith (73), Elton Flatley (Queensland) for Larkham (73), Brendan Cannon (NSW) for Freier (75-80+1)
Replacements not used: Chris Whitaker (NSW), Matt Giteau (ACT) Referee: Steve Walsh (Nzl) Att: 48,000