Aussies take it on the chin and plot revenge

TAKE a moment to scrutinise yesterday’s slaughter. Ireland may have been tactically tuned, but it’s hard to avoid the conclusion the visiting Aussies committed a cardinal sin by eschewing the brute force that won them the last two Series.

Where was the successor to Barry Hall for instance, the bald bulldozer who terrorised Ireland on his debut Down Under last year? You won’t hear the Australian management admitting they got it so wrong - not with another test to come - but read between the lines and the realisation is certainly there.

“Normally the Irish are quick out of the blocks and we’re more of an endurance team. That didn’t happen today,” said assistant manager Jim Stynes.

“They were still kicking over scores in the second, third and four quarters like they had been in the first so we obviously didn’t hit them hard enough.

“That gave them a lot of confidence in the middle of the game, which we normally start to take control. Their morale just got higher and higher.”

Stynes also admitted the Australians’ strength in depth didn’t stand up to close scrutiny, admitting with 13 debutantes, they might not have fully appreciated the size of the task in front of them.

“A lot of players maybe didn’t expect the match to go like it did. They maybe thought, ‘well, we’ve won this the last two years so we should be okay here’. It just didn’t work out that way.”

Even before the game, rumours were rife that the squad were not fully focused on the job in hand.

A question about Irish hospitality surfaced in the press conference yesterday but was quickly shot down by coach Gary Lyon.

“Of course they were switched on but they came out and made terrible mistakes and they turned the footy over and the opposition didn’t miss.

“I have no problem with the way they prepared. It was just problems with the execution.”

It wasn’t all introspection from the Aussies though and Lyon lauded the Ireland team’s accuracy and alacrity.

He even claimed, not outrageously, the hosts were more physical than his own boys. “As poor as we were, the Irish were fantastic. They are clearly, clearly, the best group we have come up against in my time as coach.”