THERE ARE SEVERAL reasons why, but the bottom line is that Ireland struggled in defence against Australia in Sydney last weekend.
The review with defence coach Simon Easterby is likely to have been tough going for the Irish players, who pride themselves on their performance in this aspect of the game.
There were still some brilliant bits of defence from Ireland against the Wallabies, most notably Hugo Keenan’s try-saving tackles. But this was objectively among the worst defensive displays of the Andy Farrell era.
One of the areas Ireland usually excel in is being hard to break down when they’re defending in their 22, but Australia scored 5.2 points per 22 entry last weekend. An intercept try contributed to that, but it’s not pretty reading for Farrell and co.
Opta data shows that Ireland have only ever conceded more points per entry in a game once during the entire Farrell era, which was in the first Test against New Zealand in 2022 when they lost 42-19.
On average under Farrell, Ireland concede 2.1 points per opposition entry into the 22.
Ireland conceded 31 points to the Wallabies last weekend, which is their fifth-highest points conceded tally since Farrell took over ahead of the 2020 Six Nations.
The Wallabies made 10 linebreaks on Saturday. Ireland’s average linebreaks conceded per game under Farrell is just 3.9.
The Wallabies scored five tries. Ireland have averaged 1.7 tries conceded per game in this period.
Australia made 374 post-contact metres on Saturday, a big leap on the average of 267 that Ireland have been conceding.
Missed tackles can be misleading, but it was clear that Ireland were falling off some tackles they’d usually make on Saturday. Ireland have only missed more than the 31 they fell off against the Wallabies on five other occasions.
It is worth highlighting here that most teams have been scoring more tries in Test rugby recently. The game is in an exciting, attack-minded place right now.
And the Wallabies were excellent in attack against Ireland for large parts of the game, with their sheer power and accurate skills combining to make them extremely difficult to contain.
But acknowledging all of that, Ireland will be disappointed with lots of their defence, all the more so given that they struggled from early on.
Ireland conceded the very first time they had to defend, with the Wallabies scoring a classy third-minute try.
Before looking at the defence, it’s worth noting how Ireland ended up having to defend. Twice in the opening minute of the game, out-half Sam Prendergast got a little too much length on garryowens, allowing Australia to field them without a contest.
The aerial approach was very clearly Ireland’s plan early on, but they missed their chance to pressure the Wallabies, whose out-half, Carter Gordon, then responded with a gigantic 50-metre clearing kick to touch.
So the Wallabies won the first kicking battle hands down, and then Ireland failed to fire with their first lineout of the day.
Dan Sheehan attempts to thread a throw to Joe McCarthy at the front, and though the ball clears the competing Harry Wilson, it floats a couple of inches over McCarthy, who can’t hold it.
Angus Bell pounces on the scraps and just like that, Australia are thundering into attack mode as Ireland race to get organised defensively.
This is a good example of how Ireland’s inability to execute other parts of their game consistently well in the first half resulted in them being under defensive pressure. They were better in this sense in the second half, limiting the Wallabies to just one spell of possession in the Irish 22, albeit conceding a try then too.
And all of this said, Australia only had six entries into the Irish 22 overall, which is average in terms of Ireland’s defensive 22 entry numbers. The problem was that the Wallabies scored five tries.
And Ireland were disjointed defensively from the off. Just two phases after Bell snaffles the lineout above, the Wallabies make a breakthrough.
In this instance, the Wallabies get nice width in the play to ask questions of Ireland’s connections.
Jack Conan [red below] looks like he will get to centre Len Ikitau.
But with Ikitau eyeballing Garry Ringrose’s inside shoulder, the Irish centre [blue below] decides to jam in and tackle Ikitau.
So Ireland end up with Conan and Ringrose both addressing Ikitau, who is about to play one of his characteristic no-look passes, one of four in this attacking passage alone.
And that means that with Ringrose having bitten down on Ikitau, his outside shoulder is vulnerable, with Jospeh-Aukuso Suaalii running a short line off Ikitau.
With Ringrose jamming in, Ireland right wing Jimmy O’Brien now also needs to be jamming in to deal with Suaalii. However, we can see below that Ringrose and O’Brien are disconnected.
Ringrose has advanced up, but O’Brien is sitting back.
O’Brien seemingly hopes Ringrose will be able to shift one slot out and deal with the threat of Suaalii, but we already know that Ringrose is jamming on Ikitau.
In Leinster’s defensive system, O’Brien would almost certainly be higher up the pitch here, but there seems to be a hesitancy in this instance.
O’Brien [pink above] does then turn in on Suaalii when he gets the ball, but the Wallabies number 13 is accelerating into space and can offload to wing Dylan Pietsch.
Australia have won the gainline in dominant fashion here, and with Ireland playing catch-up, they continue their momentum with a carry in the shortside.
Ireland need to win the next collision, but Rob Valetini edges it against Cian Prendergast and Josh van der Flier.
Not only do the Wallabies make a little more progress upfield, but Prendergast is caught on the wrong side of the tackle.
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Valetini pushes the ball into him to further highlight Prendergast’s position.
And the penalty advantage duly follows as referee Ben O’Keeffe raises his arm.
The advantage eases pressure on the Wallabies and amplifies it on Ireland.
And it will rankle for Ireland that they didn’t manage to win a single one of the next five collisions in the tight, with the Wallabies edging closer to the line with each carry.
Ikitau wins the gainline against two of Ireland’s front rows, Sheehan and Tom O’Toole, in the instance above.
When a defence is soaking as much as Ireland have been for this passage, it condenses them. When there’s penalty advantage in play too, that means the attack can have a free shot at moving the ball to space.
And so it is that the Wallabies strike on 10th phase, Ikitau no-look passing again, lock Josh Canham dropping a slick pass out the back to Carter Gordon, Jock Campbell catching brilliantly down at his ankles, and Dylan Pietsch diving into the corner.
It’s potent, skilful, smart Australian attack but Ireland will have been frustrated never to even land a shot before Pietsch’s finish.
It also will have hurt them that Australia’s second try starts deep in their half, with Gordon breaking out as he steps inside van der Flier.
Van der Flier reads off Gordon and Conan can’t get to him as he accelerates through.
Ireland scramble well initially, with Sam Prendergast closing up from the backfield and Joe McCarthy working hard to cover back.
Ireland manage to catch up with Australia, and they hold firm near their 10-metre line for several phases until the Wallabies use the shortside to get rolling again.
Left wing Jamie Osborne calls for a fold into the shortside of the defence, with Tadhg Furlong getting across.
Furlong wants another body to fold with him, beckoning for James Ryan to follow, but Ireland aren’t quick enough to set and the Wallabies play away at tempo.
So Ireland end up sitting off and being passive as the Wallabies come into the shortside, with Suaalii winning relatively easy metres from Harry Wilson’s inside pass.
Again, Ireland need to get some dominant contact in on the next phase to wrestle back momentum.
Instead, they immediately miss a tackle in midfield to give up an even bigger gainline to the Wallabies.
This kind of missed tackle is very unusual in Stuart McCloskey’s game.
It is an obvious sign of rust after nine weeks on the sidelines due to a hamstring injury.
With Australia well on top of them, Ireland accentuate the challenge with their hold/fold decisions close to the ruck.
As highlighted above, Ireland end up with six players in the frontline on that far side of the ruck.
That’s despite the Wallabies only having one player on their feet on that side. Ireland needed to fold at least one more body across to the other side, but they try to do so too late.
The combined effect of everything is that Ireland will need to get their next defensive play perfect against the razor-sharp Wallabies attack. And they don’t.
Canham sweeps the ball out the back to Gordon, with Ireland lock Ryan doing well to read off Wilson at the front door and onto Gordon in behind.
As Ryan closes on Gordon, we get a sense of how tough a spot Cian Prendergast is now in for Ireland.
Prendergast first has to address Jeremy Williams running the front-door option for Gordon [red]. Prendergast has to hit him if Gordon drops off that short pass.
But Prendergast also needs to be able to swim past Williams if the ball goes out the back to Ikitau [pink].
And as we see below, Prendergast can’t get beyond Williams, who bumps him, as the ball goes out the back from Gordon to Ikitau.
So Ikitau is beyond Prendergast, meaning he’s now a threat to the inside shoulder of Osborne, who has decided to sit off in the hope that someone working across from the inside can get to Ikitau.
Simultaneously, backfield defender Sam Prendergast appears to be in two minds about where he should insert himself into the action.
The standard practice would be as illustrated below, with Osborne [yellow] jamming in on Ikitau, Prendergast [blue] closing to the edge of the frontline to address Campbell, then Keenan [green] taking last man, the out-of-shot Pietsch.
But as Ikitau runs in between Cian Prendergast and Osborne, Sam Prendergast closes up into that space.
Again, Ikitau is good at luring defenders into this kind of stuff with his no-look passes, but it means that when he throws the latest one to Campbell, he has lured in both Sam Prendergast and Osborne.
That leaves Campbell and Pietsch with a 2v1 against Keenan.
It’s a highly advantageous position for the Wallabies, but Keenan will probably have been a bit disappointed that he couldn’t at least force Campbell into making one last pass, rather than getting taken on the outside.
Campbell’s subtle footwork sits Keenan back on his heels briefly, and he finishes another cracking Wallabies try on 12th phase.
Ireland’s clinical attack means they remain well and truly in this game, but they continue to struggle to get to grips with the Wallabies in defence.
The hosts’ third try stems from a lineout on halfway and part of the frustration will be that it wasn’t a good set-piece for Australia, meaning they initially had no momentum.
They get it quickly through the Irish midfield, though.
Out-half Prendergast brings linespeed as he closes up on Wilson [red below].
For whatever reason, inside centre McCloskey [blue below] gets very tight to Prendergast as he advances, closing in on Wilson even though Prendergast has him covered.
That means that there’s suddenly a wide spacing between McCloskey and Ringrose.
It’s unusual-looking to the extent that the Wallabies even seem a bit surprised.
With Wilson’s pass getting Gordon outside McCloskey, Ringrose is in two minds about whether to bite in or not.
McCloskey does well to recover back out and make the tackle on Gordon, but it’s a big dent in the Irish defence, and Gordon can also offload from the ground.
That means Ireland have no time to get set defensively and so, Valetini charges forward for yet another big gainline win.
With these two surges once again condensing Ireland’s defence, the Wallabies move the ball fluidly to the right edge and make even more gains through wing Pietsch.
Ireland do manage to slow that wide ruck with a barge effort from Osborne, but the cascading effect of the Wallabies being on top continues as Bell win the next collision with his carry.
A hint of desperation is creeping into Ireland’s defence now, but it’s not coming across in physical dominance.
Instead, they get breached again on the very next phase.
Clearly determined to win momentum back for his team, McCloskey [red below] blitzes up out of the line.
His aim is to hit Josh Nasser ball-and-all, shutting the Wallabies down and making a dominant tackle. But when you shoot like this, there is a real onus to land that tackle and stop the ball.
Nasser has the speed of hand to get the ball away before McCloskey makes contact, meaning the solo mission doesn’t pay off.
Instead, Ireland are disjointed and ripe to be picked off. Jamison Gibson-Park is left in the most difficult position.
With Ikitau on the ball, Gibson-Park has to worry about that front-door option of Valetini [blue], as well as the back-door option in Suaalii [yellow].
This time, Ikitau does a brilliant job of eyeballing Suaalii out the back, tricking Gibson-Park into thinking that’s where the ball is going. Instead, Ikitau pops the no-look short pass for Valetini.
Valetini powers past the despairing Sheehan and passes inside to scrum-half Ryan Lonergan, who probably thinks he’s going to score.
Keenan has other ideas, making a wonderful try-saving tackle.
Ireland have one more chance to rescue the situation thanks to Keenan’s tackle, but they’re beaten in the trenches.
Valetini, Williams and McReight win the next three collisions in the tight, with the towering Canham then driving over the tryline under Sam Prendergast and Keenan for the Wallabies’ third try.
Their fourth try comes from an intercept, but there are more defensive issues for Ireland in the first half, with Keenan needed to make another spectacular try-saving tackle that arguably wins them the game.
As mentioned above, Ireland assert more control on the game in the second half to limit the Wallabies’ attacking chances, although there would have been disappointment at how sub scrum-half Tate McDermott darted over to score from a quick-tap free-kick.
Winning in Sydney is undoubtedly a fine achievement for Ireland, all the more given the challenges they had, and they played brilliant rugby at times.
But there’s also no doubt that they will have been honest and self-critical about their defensive effort.
It might be expected that Ireland would have some teething issues as they began a new campaign, coming back together in a defensive system that has some differences to the one most of their players are part of in Leinster. It’s not an excuse they will accept.
The Wallabies deserve major credit for their athleticism, accuracy and decision-making, yet Easterby, Farrell and the Irish players will be looking for more collision-winning, connection and quality in defence in the coming weeks.
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What was going on in the Irish defence as the Wallabies cut loose?
THERE ARE SEVERAL reasons why, but the bottom line is that Ireland struggled in defence against Australia in Sydney last weekend.
The review with defence coach Simon Easterby is likely to have been tough going for the Irish players, who pride themselves on their performance in this aspect of the game.
There were still some brilliant bits of defence from Ireland against the Wallabies, most notably Hugo Keenan’s try-saving tackles. But this was objectively among the worst defensive displays of the Andy Farrell era.
One of the areas Ireland usually excel in is being hard to break down when they’re defending in their 22, but Australia scored 5.2 points per 22 entry last weekend. An intercept try contributed to that, but it’s not pretty reading for Farrell and co.
Opta data shows that Ireland have only ever conceded more points per entry in a game once during the entire Farrell era, which was in the first Test against New Zealand in 2022 when they lost 42-19.
On average under Farrell, Ireland concede 2.1 points per opposition entry into the 22.
Ireland conceded 31 points to the Wallabies last weekend, which is their fifth-highest points conceded tally since Farrell took over ahead of the 2020 Six Nations.
The Wallabies made 10 linebreaks on Saturday. Ireland’s average linebreaks conceded per game under Farrell is just 3.9.
The Wallabies scored five tries. Ireland have averaged 1.7 tries conceded per game in this period.
Australia made 374 post-contact metres on Saturday, a big leap on the average of 267 that Ireland have been conceding.
Missed tackles can be misleading, but it was clear that Ireland were falling off some tackles they’d usually make on Saturday. Ireland have only missed more than the 31 they fell off against the Wallabies on five other occasions.
It is worth highlighting here that most teams have been scoring more tries in Test rugby recently. The game is in an exciting, attack-minded place right now.
And the Wallabies were excellent in attack against Ireland for large parts of the game, with their sheer power and accurate skills combining to make them extremely difficult to contain.
But acknowledging all of that, Ireland will be disappointed with lots of their defence, all the more so given that they struggled from early on.
Ireland conceded the very first time they had to defend, with the Wallabies scoring a classy third-minute try.
Before looking at the defence, it’s worth noting how Ireland ended up having to defend. Twice in the opening minute of the game, out-half Sam Prendergast got a little too much length on garryowens, allowing Australia to field them without a contest.
The aerial approach was very clearly Ireland’s plan early on, but they missed their chance to pressure the Wallabies, whose out-half, Carter Gordon, then responded with a gigantic 50-metre clearing kick to touch.
So the Wallabies won the first kicking battle hands down, and then Ireland failed to fire with their first lineout of the day.
Dan Sheehan attempts to thread a throw to Joe McCarthy at the front, and though the ball clears the competing Harry Wilson, it floats a couple of inches over McCarthy, who can’t hold it.
Angus Bell pounces on the scraps and just like that, Australia are thundering into attack mode as Ireland race to get organised defensively.
This is a good example of how Ireland’s inability to execute other parts of their game consistently well in the first half resulted in them being under defensive pressure. They were better in this sense in the second half, limiting the Wallabies to just one spell of possession in the Irish 22, albeit conceding a try then too.
And all of this said, Australia only had six entries into the Irish 22 overall, which is average in terms of Ireland’s defensive 22 entry numbers. The problem was that the Wallabies scored five tries.
And Ireland were disjointed defensively from the off. Just two phases after Bell snaffles the lineout above, the Wallabies make a breakthrough.
In this instance, the Wallabies get nice width in the play to ask questions of Ireland’s connections.
Jack Conan [red below] looks like he will get to centre Len Ikitau.
But with Ikitau eyeballing Garry Ringrose’s inside shoulder, the Irish centre [blue below] decides to jam in and tackle Ikitau.
So Ireland end up with Conan and Ringrose both addressing Ikitau, who is about to play one of his characteristic no-look passes, one of four in this attacking passage alone.
And that means that with Ringrose having bitten down on Ikitau, his outside shoulder is vulnerable, with Jospeh-Aukuso Suaalii running a short line off Ikitau.
With Ringrose jamming in, Ireland right wing Jimmy O’Brien now also needs to be jamming in to deal with Suaalii. However, we can see below that Ringrose and O’Brien are disconnected.
Ringrose has advanced up, but O’Brien is sitting back.
O’Brien seemingly hopes Ringrose will be able to shift one slot out and deal with the threat of Suaalii, but we already know that Ringrose is jamming on Ikitau.
In Leinster’s defensive system, O’Brien would almost certainly be higher up the pitch here, but there seems to be a hesitancy in this instance.
O’Brien [pink above] does then turn in on Suaalii when he gets the ball, but the Wallabies number 13 is accelerating into space and can offload to wing Dylan Pietsch.
Australia have won the gainline in dominant fashion here, and with Ireland playing catch-up, they continue their momentum with a carry in the shortside.
Ireland need to win the next collision, but Rob Valetini edges it against Cian Prendergast and Josh van der Flier.
Not only do the Wallabies make a little more progress upfield, but Prendergast is caught on the wrong side of the tackle.
Valetini pushes the ball into him to further highlight Prendergast’s position.
And the penalty advantage duly follows as referee Ben O’Keeffe raises his arm.
The advantage eases pressure on the Wallabies and amplifies it on Ireland.
And it will rankle for Ireland that they didn’t manage to win a single one of the next five collisions in the tight, with the Wallabies edging closer to the line with each carry.
Ikitau wins the gainline against two of Ireland’s front rows, Sheehan and Tom O’Toole, in the instance above.
When a defence is soaking as much as Ireland have been for this passage, it condenses them. When there’s penalty advantage in play too, that means the attack can have a free shot at moving the ball to space.
And so it is that the Wallabies strike on 10th phase, Ikitau no-look passing again, lock Josh Canham dropping a slick pass out the back to Carter Gordon, Jock Campbell catching brilliantly down at his ankles, and Dylan Pietsch diving into the corner.
It’s potent, skilful, smart Australian attack but Ireland will have been frustrated never to even land a shot before Pietsch’s finish.
It also will have hurt them that Australia’s second try starts deep in their half, with Gordon breaking out as he steps inside van der Flier.
Van der Flier reads off Gordon and Conan can’t get to him as he accelerates through.
Ireland scramble well initially, with Sam Prendergast closing up from the backfield and Joe McCarthy working hard to cover back.
Ireland manage to catch up with Australia, and they hold firm near their 10-metre line for several phases until the Wallabies use the shortside to get rolling again.
Left wing Jamie Osborne calls for a fold into the shortside of the defence, with Tadhg Furlong getting across.
Furlong wants another body to fold with him, beckoning for James Ryan to follow, but Ireland aren’t quick enough to set and the Wallabies play away at tempo.
So Ireland end up sitting off and being passive as the Wallabies come into the shortside, with Suaalii winning relatively easy metres from Harry Wilson’s inside pass.
Again, Ireland need to get some dominant contact in on the next phase to wrestle back momentum.
Instead, they immediately miss a tackle in midfield to give up an even bigger gainline to the Wallabies.
This kind of missed tackle is very unusual in Stuart McCloskey’s game.
It is an obvious sign of rust after nine weeks on the sidelines due to a hamstring injury.
With Australia well on top of them, Ireland accentuate the challenge with their hold/fold decisions close to the ruck.
As highlighted above, Ireland end up with six players in the frontline on that far side of the ruck.
That’s despite the Wallabies only having one player on their feet on that side. Ireland needed to fold at least one more body across to the other side, but they try to do so too late.
The combined effect of everything is that Ireland will need to get their next defensive play perfect against the razor-sharp Wallabies attack. And they don’t.
Canham sweeps the ball out the back to Gordon, with Ireland lock Ryan doing well to read off Wilson at the front door and onto Gordon in behind.
As Ryan closes on Gordon, we get a sense of how tough a spot Cian Prendergast is now in for Ireland.
Prendergast first has to address Jeremy Williams running the front-door option for Gordon [red]. Prendergast has to hit him if Gordon drops off that short pass.
But Prendergast also needs to be able to swim past Williams if the ball goes out the back to Ikitau [pink].
And as we see below, Prendergast can’t get beyond Williams, who bumps him, as the ball goes out the back from Gordon to Ikitau.
So Ikitau is beyond Prendergast, meaning he’s now a threat to the inside shoulder of Osborne, who has decided to sit off in the hope that someone working across from the inside can get to Ikitau.
Simultaneously, backfield defender Sam Prendergast appears to be in two minds about where he should insert himself into the action.
The standard practice would be as illustrated below, with Osborne [yellow] jamming in on Ikitau, Prendergast [blue] closing to the edge of the frontline to address Campbell, then Keenan [green] taking last man, the out-of-shot Pietsch.
But as Ikitau runs in between Cian Prendergast and Osborne, Sam Prendergast closes up into that space.
Again, Ikitau is good at luring defenders into this kind of stuff with his no-look passes, but it means that when he throws the latest one to Campbell, he has lured in both Sam Prendergast and Osborne.
That leaves Campbell and Pietsch with a 2v1 against Keenan.
It’s a highly advantageous position for the Wallabies, but Keenan will probably have been a bit disappointed that he couldn’t at least force Campbell into making one last pass, rather than getting taken on the outside.
Campbell’s subtle footwork sits Keenan back on his heels briefly, and he finishes another cracking Wallabies try on 12th phase.
Ireland’s clinical attack means they remain well and truly in this game, but they continue to struggle to get to grips with the Wallabies in defence.
The hosts’ third try stems from a lineout on halfway and part of the frustration will be that it wasn’t a good set-piece for Australia, meaning they initially had no momentum.
They get it quickly through the Irish midfield, though.
Out-half Prendergast brings linespeed as he closes up on Wilson [red below].
For whatever reason, inside centre McCloskey [blue below] gets very tight to Prendergast as he advances, closing in on Wilson even though Prendergast has him covered.
That means that there’s suddenly a wide spacing between McCloskey and Ringrose.
It’s unusual-looking to the extent that the Wallabies even seem a bit surprised.
With Wilson’s pass getting Gordon outside McCloskey, Ringrose is in two minds about whether to bite in or not.
McCloskey does well to recover back out and make the tackle on Gordon, but it’s a big dent in the Irish defence, and Gordon can also offload from the ground.
That means Ireland have no time to get set defensively and so, Valetini charges forward for yet another big gainline win.
With these two surges once again condensing Ireland’s defence, the Wallabies move the ball fluidly to the right edge and make even more gains through wing Pietsch.
Ireland do manage to slow that wide ruck with a barge effort from Osborne, but the cascading effect of the Wallabies being on top continues as Bell win the next collision with his carry.
A hint of desperation is creeping into Ireland’s defence now, but it’s not coming across in physical dominance.
Instead, they get breached again on the very next phase.
Clearly determined to win momentum back for his team, McCloskey [red below] blitzes up out of the line.
His aim is to hit Josh Nasser ball-and-all, shutting the Wallabies down and making a dominant tackle. But when you shoot like this, there is a real onus to land that tackle and stop the ball.
Nasser has the speed of hand to get the ball away before McCloskey makes contact, meaning the solo mission doesn’t pay off.
Instead, Ireland are disjointed and ripe to be picked off. Jamison Gibson-Park is left in the most difficult position.
With Ikitau on the ball, Gibson-Park has to worry about that front-door option of Valetini [blue], as well as the back-door option in Suaalii [yellow].
This time, Ikitau does a brilliant job of eyeballing Suaalii out the back, tricking Gibson-Park into thinking that’s where the ball is going. Instead, Ikitau pops the no-look short pass for Valetini.
Valetini powers past the despairing Sheehan and passes inside to scrum-half Ryan Lonergan, who probably thinks he’s going to score.
Keenan has other ideas, making a wonderful try-saving tackle.
Ireland have one more chance to rescue the situation thanks to Keenan’s tackle, but they’re beaten in the trenches.
Valetini, Williams and McReight win the next three collisions in the tight, with the towering Canham then driving over the tryline under Sam Prendergast and Keenan for the Wallabies’ third try.
Their fourth try comes from an intercept, but there are more defensive issues for Ireland in the first half, with Keenan needed to make another spectacular try-saving tackle that arguably wins them the game.
As mentioned above, Ireland assert more control on the game in the second half to limit the Wallabies’ attacking chances, although there would have been disappointment at how sub scrum-half Tate McDermott darted over to score from a quick-tap free-kick.
Winning in Sydney is undoubtedly a fine achievement for Ireland, all the more given the challenges they had, and they played brilliant rugby at times.
But there’s also no doubt that they will have been honest and self-critical about their defensive effort.
It might be expected that Ireland would have some teething issues as they began a new campaign, coming back together in a defensive system that has some differences to the one most of their players are part of in Leinster. It’s not an excuse they will accept.
The Wallabies deserve major credit for their athleticism, accuracy and decision-making, yet Easterby, Farrell and the Irish players will be looking for more collision-winning, connection and quality in defence in the coming weeks.
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Analysis Australia cohesion Collisions CONNECTION Defence Ireland Nations Championship