Donal Spring/Rugby Analyst: What a roller-coaster game. We started brightly and looked well prepared while Australia seemed nervous. However, a missed penalty by Ronan O'Gara and a few unforced errors, allowed Australia find their stride.

When they started to recycle ball at will the alarm bells began to go off. George Gregan dropped a goal with lots of time just as he had plenty of time when he ran straight across the Irish defence at the previous ruck.

I was worried then that if we continued to stand off like this we'd get hammered. We continued to play like that for another 15 minutes or so and were fortunate to still be in touch at the end of that phase.

It looked ominous when George Smith scored his try in the left corner, which had begun with a cross-kick to the right, where Joe Roff had moved. Brian O'Driscoll then missed a tackle on Wendell Sailor and from the next ruck our defence was missing as Australia moved the ball wide again.

During the next period of play, when penalties were exchanged, we looked disorganised and unsure what to do with possession. O'Driscoll, particularly, was guilty of kicking away a lot of ball.

It was then Ireland came alive. The improvement seemed to begin with the wingers: Denis Hickie, who beat Sailor at the very first time of asking, and Shane Horgan, who had his best game in an Irish jersey and for me was man of the match. Horgan was everywhere, including the sin bin; his appetite for work was extraordinary. What a pity he did not hold the cross-kick at the end of the match for what would have been a winning score.

When these two began to run at Australia, the rest of the team seemed to realise their opponents were vulnerable going backwards.

The sin-binning of Horgan and Mat Rogers was a key moment for the team. It fired them up and from that moment Ireland went at Australia. Horgan was unfortunate to be sin-binned. He was not going for Rogers dangerously. The full back was deliberately killing the ball, and Horgan was trying to ruck him out legitimately, but the way Rogers moved around made it look worse than it was.

Had referee Paddy O'Brien been close, I believe he would have decided otherwise but his touch judge seemed to have been influenced by the crowd's reaction to the replay on the big screen.

O'Brien was correct, incidentally, in penalising us when the Irish maul broke away with no opposition and the ball at the back. In that situation, the players in front of the ball are clearly obstructing. However, he should have penalised Smith for a dangerous tackle on O'Gara and a number of other Australians for shoulder charges. But overall he handled the game very well.

At half-time, Ireland realised the game was there for the winning. But Australia, aided by a few Irish errors, started well and stretched their lead to 14-6 and although we missed a chance to narrow the gap with another relatively easy penalty, a sustained period of Irish pressure resulted in a great try in the corner from O'Driscoll. O'Gara's brilliant conversion really set the match on fire.

Australia came back at us and were rewarded with another penalty. Although they took the three points, it had been a worthwhile exchange for us. There were big tackles put in during that short period, more than in any of the games we've won in the last 24 months. It was great to see Smith, who up to then had been outstanding for Australia, being forced into a knock-on in a tackle.

Australia were rattled and began to make changes. A quick-thinking drop-goal from O'Driscoll narrowed the gap to one and maybe we should have taken our penalties in the lead-up to that score. Conversely, had we scored a decisive try, we'd all be happy.

I can't remember the last time Ireland performed so well against quality opponents in a match of such importance.

Keith Wood led superbly in his best game for some time, while the pack were outstanding, Paul O'Connell being the pick.

We can now look forward to the French match and the message is simple: we can beat any team if we go at them with the ball and in the tackle. Saturday set a standard by which we can judge ourselves in future. If we play like this against France, we can beat them.

In an interview with Johnny Watterson