{"id":534904,"date":"2026-07-06T00:03:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T00:03:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/534904\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T00:03:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T00:03:13","slug":"ireland-weather-australian-revival-to-open-nations-championship-campaign-with-thrilling-win-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/534904\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland weather Australian revival to open Nations Championship campaign with thrilling win \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nations Championship, Round One: Australia 31 Ireland 33<\/p>\n

Seeing and hearing Australian pride in their international rugby team being vividly and vibrantly restored, for about 10 minutes after Ryan Lonergan\u2019s try on the half-hour had extended the Wallabies\u2019<\/a> lead to 24-10 there seemed to be only one winner. And it most definitely wasn\u2019t Ireland<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Indeed, Ireland had looked off the pace and defensively disconnected, and during that 10 minutes it actually felt like the Wallabies might win well. The fear had lurked that with the Aussie competitive spirit bottling up five successive losses against Ireland and last summer\u2019s series defeat to the Lions, they might unleash something ferocious.<\/p>\n

After all, they are bristling with talented rugby players, especially when Rob Valetini is firing like he was here and the Len Ikitau-Joseph Suaalii midfield is getting quick front-foot ball. <\/p>\n

\"\"Reaction: Ireland squeeze home against Australia<\/p>\n

Just 16 months out from hosting a World Cup, and with so much sporting patriotic fervour in the air on the back of the Socceroos\u2019 World Cup campaign, there was also the Joe Schmidt<\/a> factor. As those 10 minutes ebbed by, as first Suaalii broke through and looked sure to take Hugo Keenan on the outside and then Harry Wilson failed to locate Max Jorgensen on the edge, it felt like another very Joe coup.<\/p>\n

But Ireland rolled with the punches and clung on for dear life as Keenan backed up a previous wonder tackle on Lonergan with his textbook, full-length, around-the-ankles try-saving tackle on Suaalii. Then Ireland sprang from the ropes, declining to kick the ball dead with the clock past the 40-minute mark from their only scrum of the game inside their own half, and playing and probing until Jamison Gibson-Park impishly skittled in by the posts from Jack Conan\u2019s clever offload.<\/p>\n

What might have been a 19-point lead had been trimmed to five and thereafter, especially when they kept pressing at 31-25 down even after a disallowed try, somehow you sensed they\u2019d find a way. Even when not at their best, that\u2019s what good teams do.<\/p>\n

Heroes abounded. Take James Ryan\u2019s latest 80-minute shift. His obstruction had seen Dan Sheehan\u2019s 59th-minute finish ruled out and he\u2019d knocked on to end another siege. But having helped resolve Ireland\u2019s initial lineout difficulties, Ryan\u2019s steal was a pivotal moment in the build-up to Thomas Clarkson\u2019s 77th-minute try and Sam Prendergast\u2019s match-winning conversion.<\/p>\n

\"Ireland'sIreland’s James Ryan is tackled by Australia’s Fraser McReight. Photograph: Ben Brady\/Inpho <\/p>\n

Staying calm in close-fought games has been a feature of Leinster\u2019s campaign, and ditto in Ireland\u2019s superb wins over England and Scotland, but this went deeper than even well-prepared tap plays and launch plays, or skill and execution. They have a shared identity in wanting to represent so many Irish abroad, witness The Fields reverberating around the stadium to the game\u2019s last passage of play.<\/p>\n

This was about character and belief in each other, which Andy Farrell<\/a> said can never be taken as ingrained.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, it\u2019s a constant development because everyone is human, everyone feels pressure. But you try and enclose it within your bubble and try and show each other what it means to be an Irish rugby player. That\u2019s certainly a big part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leinster\u2019s latest URC title was founded on the defensive system brought in by two-time World Cup winner Jacques Nienaber. But as in Ireland\u2019s last two campaigns \u2013 Six Nations opening night in Paris and the loss to the All Blacks in Chicago \u2013 reverting to an Irish defensive system wasn\u2019t without its problems.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, Stuart McCloskey was playing his first game in 10 weeks, although considering that, his latest bravura performance here was astonishing. He constantly won collisions and looked to free his hands. Like at Twickenham, the 33-year-old again chased down a younger winger.<\/p>\n

\"Ireland'sIreland’s Stuart McCloskey makes a break against Australia. Photograph: Ben Brady\/Inpho <\/p>\n

But through little fault of his, Ireland had conceded nine line breaks by the half-hour mark and, all told, missed a whopping 36 tackles. Farrell admitted it was a disjointed defensive performance but one which, publicly at any rate, he preferred to attribute to the Wallabies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe became a bit disconnected away from the ball and, with their flowing rugby, people coming around the corner, they found a few tight-five forwards not connected enough, and that\u2019s because of the speed of the ball. They created that,\u201d said Farrell\u201d<\/p>\n

But after half-time the defence was better connected and there were less shooters out of the line. The replacements, notably R\u00f3nan Kelleher, Clarkson, Tadhg Beirne, Nick Timoney and Bundee Aki, also made a palpable impact, while Sam Prendergast ran the game well in the second half before delivering the coup de grace.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a lovely, positive strike. It wasn\u2019t something that just found its way over,\u201d noted Farrell. \u201cIt was direct and it had a proper meaning to it as well. His touchline kicking was excellent as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been great all week, but we\u2019ve said it before, with our preparation being great, you\u2019ve still got to go out there and deal with what the pressures of international rugby throws at you. That type of game threw everything at them, and they found a way. That\u2019s the most pleasing thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

SCORING SEQUENCE \u2013 2 mins: Pietsch try, 5-0; 9: C Prendergast try, S Prendergast con, 5-7; 13: Campbell try, 10-7; 18: Van der Flier try, 10-12; 23: Canham try, Gordon con, 17-12; 26: Lonergan try, Gordon con, 24-12; 40+1: Gibson-Park try, S Prendergast, con 24-19; Half-time 24-19; 46: Keenan try, S Prendergast con, 24-26; 52: McDermott try, Gordon con, 31-26; 76: Clarkson try, S Prendergast con, 31-33.<\/p>\n

AUSTRALIA: J Campbell; M Jorgensen, JA Suaalii, L Ikitau, D Pietsch; C Gordon, R Lonergan; A Bell, J Nasser, A Alaalatoa; J Canham, J Williams; R Baletini, F McReight, H Wilson (capt). <\/p>\n

Replacements: T McDermott for Lonergan (33 mins); T Tupou for Alaalatoa, B Paenga-Amosa for Nasser, J Slipper for Bell (all 54); B Donaldson for Gordon (57); L Shaw for Canham (58); T Wright for Campbell, T Hooper for Valetini (both 66).<\/p>\n

IRELAND: H Keenan; J O\u2019Brien, G Ringrose, S McCloskey, J Osborne; S Prendergast, J Gibson-Park; T O\u2019Toole, D Sheehan (capt), T Furlong; J McCarthy, J Ryan; C Prendergast, J Van der Flier, J Conan. <\/p>\n

Replacements: N Timoney for C Prendergast, T Berine for Van der Flier, T Clarkson for Furlong, J Loughman for O\u2019Toole (all 51 mins); C Frawley for Osborne, B Aki for Ringrose (both 58); O\u2019Toole for Loughman (59); R Kelleher for Sheehan (60).<\/p>\n

Referee: B O\u2019Keeffe (NZ).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nations Championship, Round One: Australia 31 Ireland 33 Seeing and hearing Australian pride in their international rugby team…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":534905,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,1449,6398,86133,43,53328],"class_list":["post-534904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-ireland-rugby","tag-match-report","tag-nations-championship","tag-news","tag-wallabies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=534904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/534905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}