Following Ireland\u2019s dramatic 33-31 victory over Australia in the opening round of the Nations Championship in Sydney on Saturday, Planet Rugby picks out five takeaways from the 10-try thriller that went down to the wire. \u00a0<\/p>\n
The top line<\/p>\n
The pre-game script for this day one encounter in Test rugby\u2019s new dash for cash was written for recent Triple Crown winners Ireland to secure a sixth successive win over the Wallabies with comfort.<\/p>\n
However, this crystal ball gazing was bunkum as the Wallabies were in front until Thomas Clarkson\u2019s 77th-minute try and even then the clunky Irish were left reliant on Ben Donaldson missing with his second penalty kick in the second minute of added time.<\/p>\n
This breathless contest full of entertaining moments enjoyed a rollicking start, six tries scored in the opening 26 minutes. A lineout loss at the front was the trigger for Australia to strike for the first three minutes in, brilliant continuity after snaffling turnover ball ending with Dylan Pietsch enjoying a clear run to the line.<\/p>\n
Power in the contact from Cian Prendergast got Ireland on the board eight minutes later, but the visitors were exposed again in the right-hand corner on 14 minutes. Carter Gordon, the sixth Australian No.10 in the soon-to-end Joe Schmidt era, left Josh van der Flier for dead and the sweep ended with Jock Campbell, last capped at Test level in 2022, galloping over.<\/p>\n
Back came the Irish a second time, deception from Dan Sheehan at a tapped five-metre penalty resulting in Van der Flier diving over on 19 minutes, but the Wallabies then struck for the next two tries.<\/p>\n
Josh Canham burrowed over on 24 minutes, benefiting from Rob Valetini\u2019s defence-panicking break, and the hosts were celebrating again two minutes later when Max Jorgensen picked off Sam Prendergast\u2019s pass to Hugo Keenan on his team\u2019s 10-metre line, going in to give the assist pass over Stuart McCloskey\u2019s head for Ryan Lonergan to finish.<\/p>\n
Australia should have added to this double-score, 24-12 lead before the interval. However, Keenan, playing for Ireland for the first time since the 2025 Six Nations, executed a try-saving tackle on Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii and this rescue was followed by a clinical clock-in-the-red, length-of-field sweep that culminated with the move-starting Jamison Gibson-Park sprinting in from a Jack Conan assist.<\/p>\n
Instead of a potential 29-12 gap, this swing left it 24-19 at the break and Ireland needed less than seven second-half minutes to take a two-point lead, another tapped five-metre penalty the catalyst and the move ending with Keenan darting over from Garry Ringrose\u2019s assist.<\/p>\n
That should have been the signal for the Wallabies to wilt, but they didn\u2019t. Instead, they wrested back the advantage with Tate McDermott quickly tapping a free awarded against Ireland for early scrum engagement and worming over the line. This 31-26 lead stayed intact with Sheehan\u2019s 58th-minute break-off-maul try cancelled for James Ryan\u2019s obstruction on Valetini, and Ryan\u2019s 66th-minute fumble near the try line didn\u2019t help the Irish cause either.<\/p>\n
Sub Donaldson couldn\u2019t make it a two-score Aussie lead when wide with the penalty awarded for a Jimmy O\u2019Brien obstruction. Back came the Irish and with offside home sub Lachlan Shaw yellow-carded for one team penalty too many, Clarkson powered over.<\/p>\n
Prendergast converted for the lead but there was still one final moment of jeopardy, Donaldson getting handed the tee out wide on the 10-metre after Bundee Aki went off his feet. The kick had the length but not the accuracy, leaving a relieved Ireland clinging onto their two-point win.<\/p>\n
Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as\u00a0a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a>\u00a0for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n Four areas of Irish concern<\/p>\n Ireland finished second to France in the recent Six Nations<\/a> following an in-tournament rejuvenation, but concerns about their collective standard of play persisted after that campaign and resurfaced in Sydney. Their breakdown play wasn\u2019t of sufficient quality, their set-piece was inconsistent and their defensive shooters in the first half hurt proceedings.<\/p>\n The Irish defence had taken a shellacking for some porous efforts across 2025\/26. This includes France and South Africa scoring four tries each<\/a> less than 50 minutes into their fixtures against Andy Farrell\u2019s side. Here, Australia disbelievingly needed just 26 minutes to score four tries, reheating questions about Farrell\u2019s rearguard organisation under Simon Easterby.<\/p>\n It tightened up after that, and in the end, this was a match that Ireland didn\u2019t lose, unlike against the French and the Springboks. But their slow starts have become too frequent, and the All Blacks<\/a> will be licking their lips ahead of the July 18 hosting of the Irish in Auckland.<\/p>\n Ireland\u2019s lineout was also a source of frustration, with four Sheahan throws not working out before he gave way to R\u00f3nan Kelleher, while their scrum also struggled against the Wallaby sub front row which won two set-piece penalties coming down the pipe.<\/p>\n For a team aspiring to reach the final of this new tournament in London in November, a major uptick in reliability is needed if they are to trouble New Zealand\u2019s Eden Park fortress.<\/p>\n Ireland player ratings: Stuart McCloskey \u2018in the form of his life\u2019 as usual suspects star but \u2018brain fades\u2019 almost prove costly<\/a><\/p>\n Schmidt\u2019s encouraging remedial work<\/p>\n In the end this was an agonising defeat for Joe Schmidt\u2019s Wallabies, but it was a loss with plenty of positives in comparison to how the flopped last November when last in action. That horrible northern tour ended with four successive lost matches, leaving them with a poor record of just five wins from 15 outings in 2025.<\/p>\n Defence was a repeated bugbear in that miserable tour, Australia conceding an unacceptable total of 145 points. Laurie Fisher\u2019s replacement next month by Scott McLeod as defence coach in the new Les Kiss era can\u2019t come quick enough, but their defending was of a feisty level in this outing.<\/p>\n With the Irish left needing a 77th-minute try to take the lead for the victory, this was indeed a very different performance to the 46-19 the Aussies suffered in Dublin eight months ago<\/a>, so they have ample reason to feel pleased with this improvement.<\/p>\n Another bounce happened in their attack play. Departing boss Schmidt stated before kick-off that they aimed to open the game up and play, and they very much did this, especially in the first half where, if player of the match Keenan didn\u2019t mow down Suaalii, they could have been out of sight on the half-time scoreboard.<\/p>\n Australian teams that find an edge out are always dangerous. If Schmidt can build on this and keep his side playing creatively against the French next Saturday in Brisbane, he will have done a heck of a remedial job in changing the feel surrounding Aussie rugby.<\/p>\n It was all doom and gloom at the end of their tour last November, but what they achieved here against the Irish with a team inspired by Valetini bodes well after all the fears that they were a beaten docket on a very bumpy slide.<\/p>\n Wallabies player ratings: Bomb Squad \u2018explosion\u2019 floors Ireland as Joe Schmidt\u2019s 2025 snub falls short in the \u2018clutch\u2019 and gamble \u2018backfires\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n Potential try of the year winner<\/p>\n It was 2016 when Ireland last won the World Rugby Try of the Year award, but they now have a contender a decade later that could potentially reclaim that mantle. Shortly after Lions try-scoring hero Keenan had saved the Irish bacon with a super try-saving tackle nearing the interval, they had a scrum on their 22 with the first half clock having turned to red.<\/p>\n Gibson-Park could have easily just collected the ball out the back of the set-piece and booted into touch, cutting the Irish losses at a 12-point deficit. Instead, he went for broke, and he was finishing off the move 56 seconds later under the Australian posts.<\/p>\n His converted try cut the gap to a complexion-altering five points, and it was a critical score in this Irish win. Gibson-Park initially passed to McCloskey and by the time Keenan handled, Farrell\u2019s team had advanced from the 22 to the 10-metre line.<\/p>\n A second chunky McCloskey carry followed and there were also important metres from O\u2019Brien near the sideline before the fast-tempo move reaped reward down the middle with Ringrose and Conan combining to usher in their support-line-running scrum-half.<\/p>\n It was a collective thing of beauty up there with the award-winning Jamie Heaslip score 10 years ago, and it was ultimately worth its weight in gold in terms of the final result.<\/p>\n Wallabies v Ireland: Result, match details, stats, line-ups<\/a><\/p>\n The tale of the 10s<\/p>\n