Wales and Ireland go down fighting in Southern Hemisphere
Australia got back to winning ways on Saturday with a 22-15 win over Ireland at the Suncorp Stadium. But for the second week running they were far from their free-flowing best, and an Ireland team which was ravaged by injuries came very close to doing what England had done a week ago and beating the Wallabies.
With the World Cup only three months away, Australian rugby fans will be worried about the team’s lack of creative spark and coach Robbie Deans will no doubt be feeling the pressure.
The home side's error-strewn performance was lifted only by first-half tries courtesy of an intercept by scrum-half Luke Burgess and the individual brilliance of fly-half Quade Cooper.
But take nothing away from the Irish performance, this wasn’t just a case of the Wallabies underperforming. Right from the first whistle Declan Kidney’s men set out to play with a physicality that Deans’ side failed to match.
Jonathan Sexton was the star of the show for Ireland, following on his excellent kicking form against the New Zealand Maori with another strong effort eight days on. It was the boot of the 24-year-old that supplied his side with all of the 15 points, but try as they might they just didn’t possess the individual magic to cross the Wallabies line.
Another Southern Hemisphere side that managed to register a victory without playing at their best was New Zealand, who overcame Wales 29-10 in Hamilton on Saturday.
Much like the Wallabies, the All Blacks’ ruthlessness in and around the Welsh 22 proved to be the major difference between the teams. Tries from Cory Jane, Aaron Cruden and 17 points from the boot of Dan Carter meant that despite the visitors' best efforts New Zealand had too many points on the board for the Welsh to claw back.
Wales however, will not go home too disappointed, as their performance in Hamilton was a stark improvement on their 42-9 loss against the All Blacks last weekend.
Coach Warren Gatland believes the tour has been a success for his troops and has plenty of positives to build on.
“We were not overawed by the situation and I think that’s a step forward for us,” he said.
“We have seen Welsh teams go to Southern Hemisphere countries and come back in disarray. That’s not the case this time. I think we’ve come back with a tremendous amount to build on.
“The only way to get better is to play the best teams in the world in their own back garden and that’s what we’ve done and we come back with a certain amount of integrity and reputation enhanced that we can compete.”
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