AUSTRALIA HEAD COACH Joe Schmidt believes Ireland’s winning scoreline of 46-19 was ‘somewhat exaggerated’ following their Autumn Nations Series clash.
The Wallabies trailed by just five points at the break after Fraser McReight went over in the dying seconds of the first half to keep them in the hunt. And they were just eight adrift after the hour mark, with a Sam Prendergast drop goal proving to be the only score of the second half up to that point.
But then Ireland pushed out their chests and rolled in further tries through Caelan Doris, Ryan Baird and Robbie Henshaw over the concluding stages. Replacement out-half Jack Crowley also converted a penalty while Australia could only muster one unconverted try courtesy of Billy Pollard throughout that devastating period.
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“At 22-14 we’re still right in the game,” Schmidt said, reflecting on Ireland’s dominant finish in the Aviva.
“When we had that five-metre lineout we just couldn’t quite get the execution and accuracy right even though there was some good pressure at Ireland. They had 70% possession and territory in that second-half so they controlled the flow of the game and the space in behind and the aerial battle.”
“The scoreline was exaggerated somewhat in those last few minutes.”
Australia came into this tie on the back of defeats to Italy and England, and now must find a way to reboot before travelling to the Stade de France next week.
Schmidt has previously called on the fans to not lose faith in the team, and reiterated that message again this evening. He also remarked on the yellow card decision against Nick Frost when Doris lunged over to put Ireland 32-14 ahead, and how it influenced the game.
“We are working hard and time is no excuse. We have to put an 80-minute performance out there. We can’t be 22-14 down and collapse like we did tonight. The yellow card certainly made things more difficult, especially if you are trying to overplay at that stage and with a man down. There’s always going to be a bit of space somewhere.
“It almost looked like the player was in front of the ball carrier at the time and I thought the referee got it right in the first place, it being a rugby collision. Once you have that yellow card you have to adjust and play with 14. As we’ve seen, there are a whole deck of cards shuffled every week in international rugby.
“We were written off before the Lions, we were written off before going to South Africa. I know we didn’t do ourselves justice in that second-half. At half-time we had fought our way back into the game. I’m confident that we can still fight our way into that contest next week.”
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Ireland-Australia scoreline 'exaggerated somewhat,' says disappointed Schmidt
AUSTRALIA HEAD COACH Joe Schmidt believes Ireland’s winning scoreline of 46-19 was ‘somewhat exaggerated’ following their Autumn Nations Series clash.
The Wallabies trailed by just five points at the break after Fraser McReight went over in the dying seconds of the first half to keep them in the hunt. And they were just eight adrift after the hour mark, with a Sam Prendergast drop goal proving to be the only score of the second half up to that point.
But then Ireland pushed out their chests and rolled in further tries through Caelan Doris, Ryan Baird and Robbie Henshaw over the concluding stages. Replacement out-half Jack Crowley also converted a penalty while Australia could only muster one unconverted try courtesy of Billy Pollard throughout that devastating period.
“At 22-14 we’re still right in the game,” Schmidt said, reflecting on Ireland’s dominant finish in the Aviva.
“When we had that five-metre lineout we just couldn’t quite get the execution and accuracy right even though there was some good pressure at Ireland. They had 70% possession and territory in that second-half so they controlled the flow of the game and the space in behind and the aerial battle.”
“The scoreline was exaggerated somewhat in those last few minutes.”
Australia came into this tie on the back of defeats to Italy and England, and now must find a way to reboot before travelling to the Stade de France next week.
Schmidt has previously called on the fans to not lose faith in the team, and reiterated that message again this evening. He also remarked on the yellow card decision against Nick Frost when Doris lunged over to put Ireland 32-14 ahead, and how it influenced the game.
“We are working hard and time is no excuse. We have to put an 80-minute performance out there. We can’t be 22-14 down and collapse like we did tonight. The yellow card certainly made things more difficult, especially if you are trying to overplay at that stage and with a man down. There’s always going to be a bit of space somewhere.
“It almost looked like the player was in front of the ball carrier at the time and I thought the referee got it right in the first place, it being a rugby collision. Once you have that yellow card you have to adjust and play with 14. As we’ve seen, there are a whole deck of cards shuffled every week in international rugby.
“We were written off before the Lions, we were written off before going to South Africa. I know we didn’t do ourselves justice in that second-half. At half-time we had fought our way back into the game. I’m confident that we can still fight our way into that contest next week.”
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Australia Rugby Autumn nations Series Ireland Joe Schmidt reflections Rugby