Superb try puts Kelly quickly back in the picture

JOHN KELLY’S name was conspicuous by its absence from the match programme pen-pictures on Saturday night.

In fact it was left to the man himself to announce his presence after half an hour with a superbly taken try. In an instant he had provided us with all we really needed to know.

“I did enjoy the game,” he admitted.

“The first half was very enjoyable and we went in only one point down. We’d soaked up a lot and defended very well.

"The second half wasn’t as enjoyable because we were playing catch-up right from the time when they scored their try.

"When you’re playing catch-up you’re stretching yourself and they came in and made hits.

"We made mistakes and they scored off them. That’s when Australia are very strong, when you have to play catch-up against them and they tend to break away and score tries.”

Ireland’s only try of the night was described in the aftermath by David Humphreys as “the best try we’ve scored all season.”

Kevin Maggs, Geordan Murphy, Peter Stringer, Keith Gleeson and Humphreys himself were all involved in its conception and John Kelly sprinted over to touch down. He savoured the moment.

“The scoreline probably isn’t a fair reflection of how much of a contest it was ”

The Munster winger was also involved in one of the most contentious decisions of the evening.

It was he who tangled with Australian fly-half Elton Flatley in the 71st minute and referee Nigel Williams awarded the hosts a penalty try for obstruction.

Kelly was on his back as the try was awarded.

“I don’t think it was a penalty try. That’s my own personal opinion. The ball bounced, I went in with the shoulder to try and get in front of him (Flatley), to get to the ball, and I went down.

"He went down with me, there was no intention there, it just happened that way.”

Kelly’s exertions also left him nursing a slight swelling above his right eye.

He is unsure if it was a legacy of his run-ins with Wendell Sailor, but was surprised that Sailor’s replacement, Lote Tuquirui, was just as powerful.

“It was a bit daunting. They have a lot of big, burly backs and I knew I would be up against Wendell Sailor and I’d looked at the video of him.

"He’s a big strong lad, but I was happy enough. They brought on another big guy too, but at this level you’re going to come up against fellas like that.”

Although the Wallabies scored six tries, their management team admitted they had problems dealing with Ireland’s “rush-up” defence, particularly centre Geordan Murphy's constant charging at opposition backs.

“I think it showed us how northern hemisphere sides are going to defend,” coach Eddie Jones said.

“All the Six Nations sides are now playing a rush-up defence. Ireland certainly did that, with Murphy coming very strongly out of the line.

“So, with that happening, you cannot play your traditional backline play. With rush-up defence, you have to play differently.

"Certainly, we played one way, which was not necessarily the correct way, or the only way. We'll need to look at other ways to play against rush-up defence.”

“Were you expecting that?” Jones was asked.

“Probably not the speed on the outside,” he replied.

“We thought they would come off the line pretty quickly, but they really came at us like the old Bulldogs rugby league umbrella-like defensive system.

"That shows you the difference between Super 12 and Test rugby. Super 12 teams don't play that sort of umbrella defence, but Ireland did it pretty well.”