Ireland beat Wallabies 15-6 in thrilling contest - Rugby World Cup News
Ireland outclassed the Australians in their second match of Rugby World Cup 2011 by 15-6 on September 17 in Auckland. The Wallabies conceded too many penalties and let their opponents get an easy win over them. Jonathan Sexton and Ronan O’Gara helped their
side to a much needed victory based mostly on penalty goals.
The Irish side seemed to be motivated by the return of their veteran star Sean O’Brien. Two more Irish players made a comeback for the match including prop Cian Healy and full-back Rob Kearney. With the return of the seasoned trio, Ireland looked much improved
than the side which defeated the United States in their first match of the world showpiece on September 11.
Meanwhile, Wallabies coach Robbie Deans had to make few changes in his side due to an unlucky injury to his openside flanker David Pocock. Pocock was replaced by Ben McCalman who had never played at the openside flankers’ position before. James O’Connor
made a comeback to the Wallabies side after missing the first clash of RWC due to a ban.
O’Connor celebrated his return with a lovely penalty goal and gave Australia an early lead in the 12th minute of the match. Sexton equalised the score in the same fashion just four minutes after O’Connor’s try. The match took an interesting turn
with a brilliant drop goal by Sexton and Ireland was now in the driving seat with a 6-3 lead.
The Irish side could not hold the lead for long as Wallabies bounced back with yet another penalty goal by O’Connor in the 24th minute of the match. Both the sides made a number of attempts to extend their total before the break but did not succeed
in doing so. The match hung in the balance until mid-way break at 6-6. Wallabies had a bad time in the defence as they missed as many as seven tackles before the interval.
Sexton further elevated his side with some nice work with his boots and scored first penalty goal of the second-half. Ireland was one again slightly ahead of Australia with 9-6 after the break. Wallabies slumped into a greater state of haplessness when Ronan
O’Gara picked his side further up with a three pointer and raised the Irish lead to 12-6 in the 62nd minute of the match. O’Gara scored the last penalty goal for his team in the 70th minute and sealed a hard fought victory for Ireland.
Wallabies conceded too many penalties in the match and provided Ireland too many opportunities to score. They ended up giving away 11 penalties and the referee awarded seven penalty kicks to Ireland, who scored on four.
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