It is the exhaustive work required to secure those points, with tries even harder to come by, that leave Ireland exposed, says Donal Lenihan.

Ireland boss Joe Schmidt has thrown down the gauntlet to his Six Nations champions to emulate the heroes of 1979 by winning a Test series in Australia when they face the Wallabies for a third and decisive time on Saturday.

Ireland captain Peter O’Mahony has echoed head coach Joe Schmidt’s calls for better discipline when the Six Nations champions meet Australia.

If ever there was a microcosm of the battle for hearts and minds in Australian sport, then today’s fare is it.

It is difficult to imagine Ireland’s season being remembered as anything but an unheralded success after a Six Nations Triple Crown, Championship and Grand Slam was secured on the back a 12-Test winning run.

Joe Schmidt has turned to Niall Scannell as the hooker to tighten up Ireland’s scrummaging power for the must-win second Test against Australia at AAMI Park tomorrow morning.

Michael Cheika still adores Johnny Sexton and the Leinster veterans he coached to a Heineken Cup victory in 2009 but the love-in with a player he calls “the maestro” will have to go on hold tomorrow as Australia attempt to close out their Test series with Ireland.

Joe Schmidt put the band back together yesterday and reminded his Grand Slam winners they were the rock stars in this Test series with Australia, not the support act, writes Simon Lewis in Melbourne.

When you put in the type of performance David Pocock delivered against Ireland last weekend, it becomes a little difficult to comprehend the Australian back-rower believed taking his one-year sabbatical from the game was something of a career risk.

Andy Farrell is hoping the pain of defeat to Australia will reveal the size of Ireland’s heart for the battles ahead on this tour Down Under.

Joe Schmidt is preparing to welcome his big guns for Saturday’s must-win Test against Australia in Melbourne.

Australia 18 Ireland 9

All good things come to an end and for Rob Kearney, losing for the first time in 15 months and 13 Tests may be no bad thing for a core of this Ireland squad so accustomed to winning.

Joe Schmidt called it their "most difficult selection process" yet.

Eddie Jones believes England’s stunning series win in Australia could ignite the imaginations of children to become the next Owen Farrell rather than Harry Kane.

A-League side Melbourne Heart have been renamed Melbourne City FC and will take Spain striker David Villa on loan from sister club New York City FC for a short spell later this year.

Melbourne Rebels 0 British & Irish Lions 35

British and Irish Lions captain Dan Lydiate believes today’s 35-0 victory over the Melbourne Rebels served as a good audition for places ahead of Saturday’s potential series decider against Australia.

Melbourne Rebels 0 British and Irish Lions 35

A fractured arm may have sidelined Paul O’Connell from the rest of the Test series with Australia, his place in the second row for Saturday’s second Test going to England’s Geoff Parling, but the British & Irish Lions are desperate to keep their former captain on tour, so important to them is his presence as a leader and mentor.

The British & Irish Lions complete their provincial schedule today against the Melbourne Rebels with the reminder that their performance and approach has a direct bearing on the outcome of the Test series.

British and Irish Lions assistant coach Graham Rowntree today refused to dwell on Paul O’Connell’s tour-ending fractured arm.

Lock Paul O’Connell has been ruled out of the remainder of the British and Irish Lions’ Test series against Australia with a fractured arm.

Ireland wing Simon Zebo will go into tomorrow’s tour match against the Melbourne Rebels still firmly believing he can find a way to earn a place in the British and Irish Lions’ Test side later in the series.

A Dutch firm has been awarded a €600,000 contract to design a massive new public park in Cork city to rival Dublin’s Phoenix Park.

The British and Irish Lions will play Test matches in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney when they tour Australia in 2013.

JIM WILLIAMS has warned Munster to resist the temptation of making wholesale changes to the backroom and playing staff this year.

Australia 34 England 14