Plucky Ireland give favourites a fright

Ireland 10 Australia 15

Roared on by a passionate home crowd of 6,715, Charlie McAleese’s side came agonisingly close to causing the biggest upset of the tournament and though the home side can console themselves with a bonus point, the head coach admitted afterwards it was a game the Irish let slip from their grasp.

“There’s a huge frustration factor at having run Australia so close,” said McAleese. “We put a lot into this game. We had a belief we could win the game. All the players on the park had that belief.