Ireland can point to positives

Ireland A 17 Australia A 24: The midweek Wallabies not having distinguished themselves in their previous sortie on tour when losing to the Ospreys, the Irish As will be disappointed to have let slip a game they looked like winning for much of a sodden night in Thomond Park.

The anti-climactic endgame shouldn't entirely distract from what had been a reasonably good performance, but physically their performance seemed to fall away, notably after the withdrawal of the impressive Stephen Ferris - whose ultra-competitive and physical nature stood out on the night.

Jeremy Staunton, despite kicking four out of five, lost a little bit of his control with one sliced left-footer out on the full and one unpunished but risky pass on his own 22 to Mick O'Driscoll which would not have impressed the watching Eddie O'Sullivan, while, after his equally bright start, Eoin Reddan's influence also waned.

But the biggest loss was undoubtedly when Keith Gleeson was sinbinned for coming in from the side, the midweek Wallabies scoring the decisive two late tries while he was off the pitch for what seemed an extended 10 minutes. Aside from Ferris, arguably the most eye-catching performance was from Luke Fitzgerald, whose star continues to shine even though he is clearly still on a learning curve.

Scarcely 4,200 souls were convinced that this tie was worth braving the elements for and Ireland kicked off with the slanting sheets of rain and the breeze in their backs, and some piano-shifting quickly had them on the scoreboard.

A good lineout drive off a clean take by Ferris at the tail earned a penalty for coming in from the side which Staunton landed from 40 metres.

The Aussies were the more aggressive at scrum time on the night, but this came at a cost, and the first of five penalties against them, mostly for boring in illegally, was compounded by an additional 10 metres for backchat by hooker Stephen Moore. Again Staunton confidently kicked the 40-metre penalty.

Ireland's early supremacy was also helped by an initially trying night for Mark Gerrard. His restart had gone out without travelling 10 metres, and further loose kicks by him and halfback partner Brett Sheehan kept Ireland on the front foot.

With Jamie Heaslip making good yards off the base, and Gleeson coming up with big plays, Ireland should have extended their lead. But John Kelly was tackled into touch when Fitzgerald could have gone himself, then Kieran Lewis went for a long skip pass to Robert Kearney which was adjudged forward and Gleeson failed to complete his attempted pick up and pass for the supporting Lewis after his own charge down of a kick by Cameron Shepherd.

On the half hour they deservedly made their breakthrough. A surprised Simon Best having gathered a Fogarty throw at the tail, Ferris took a hard line off Staunton's short pass to breach the line and plough through Sheehan. Off the recycle good hands by Eoin Reddan, Staunton, Lewis and the pivoting Kelly enabled Fitzgerald to score in the corner. Shepherd opened Australia's account at his second attempt to make it 11-3 at the break.

However, things then began to turn, with even Gerrard's plays starting to reap big dividends. Fitzgerald couldn't field his high kick, well chased and contested by Morgan Turinui, and flanker Stephen Hoiles put Adam Ashley-Cooper over with a long basketball-type pass; Shepherd converting. It seemed Ireland had stemmed the tide with the first of a brace of penalties by Staunton, the first after James Horvill had been binned for a high tackle on Kieran Lewis.

But with Ferris's departure went much of Ireland's momentum. The Aussies mounted concerted forward pressure and within a minute of Gleeson's departure for coming in from the side at a ruck under the posts, Turinui scored on a cutback off Gerrard's lateral run and offload.

When Turinui was first on to the outhalf's little grubber, Stephen Hoiles then hacked the ball on past a hesitant Kelly for Scott Staniforth to slide over the line with the ball. By then, Ireland looked a weary outfit.

SCORING: 6 mins - Staunton pen 3-0; 8 mins - Staunton pen 6-0; 30 mins - Fitzgerald try 11-0; 38 mins - Shepherd pen 11-3; (half-time 11-3); 46 mins - Ashley-Cooper try, Shepherd con 11-10; 53 mins - Staunton pen 14-10; 58 mins - Staunton pen 17-10; 68 mins - Turinui try, Shepherd con 17-17; 78 mins - Staniforth try, Shepherd con 17-24.

IRELAND A: L Fitzgerald (Blackrock College/ Leinster); J Kelly (Cork Con/Munster), B Murphy (UL Bohemians/Munster), K Lewis (St Mary's College/Leinster), R Kearney (UCD/Leinster); J Staunton (Wasps), E Reddan (Wasps); R McCormack (UCD/Leinster), J Fogarty (Buccaneers/ Connacht), S Best (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster, capt), M McCullough (Ballymena/Ulster), T Hogan (Shannon/Leinster), S Ferris (Dungannon/Ulster), K Gleeson (St Mary's College/Leinster), J Heaslip (Clontarf/Leinster). Replacements: M O'Driscoll (Cork Con/Munster) for Hogan (47 mins), R Wilson (Belfast Harl/Ulster) for Ferris (59 mins), B Blaney (Terenure/Leinster) for Fogarty (70 mins), G Duffy (NEC Harlequins) for Kearney (77). Not used: R Hogan (Galwegians/Connacht), C Willis (UCD/Leinster), M McHugh (Galwegians/Connacht). Sinbinned: Gleeson (67-77 mins).

AUSTRALIA A: C Shepherd; A Ashley-Cooper, M Turinui, S Staniforth, D Mitchell; M Gerrard, B Sheehan; B Robinson, S Moore, R Blake, A Campbell (capt), J Horwill, S Fava, S Hoiles, D Lyons. Replacements: G Smith for Fava (half-time), T Polota-Nau for Moore (48 mins), J Valentine for Sheehan (59 mins), N Henderson for Robinson (73 mins), M Chapman for Horwill (75 mins). Sinbinned: Horwill (53-63 mins).

Referee: R Debney (England).