Reward for guts and character

IRISH guts and character made up for a series of very apparent shortcomings at Croke Park yesterday.

A brilliantly taken try by the imperious Brian O’Driscoll off a glorious Tomás O’Leary pass and converted by Ronan O’Gara enabled the Six Nations Grand Slam champions to force a 20-all draw with Tri-Nations wooden spoonists Australia and it was an outcome they just about deserved.

It was a dismally poor game for the first 50 minutes and not a whole lot better after that. But at least there was the excitement and tension of the final half hour during which time three tries were scored, with most of the 69,668 crowd going home in reasonably happy frame of mind thanks to the late, late reprieve.

This was a case of one team at the end of a long season up against one at the beginning of theirs and it showed in the number of unforced errors on both sides.

Australia looked the more potent force for the most part and dominated field possession and so have more reason to be happy with the outcome.

Their very obvious disgust at being caught on the post was best reflected by the surprisingly curt attitude their coach Robbie Deans, captain Rocky Elsom and man of the match David Pocock adopted at the press conference. Their monosyllabic answers to what was, in truth, pretty harmless questioning bordered on the rude.

O’Driscoll’s try was as easy they come at such a crucial stage. It was amateurish defending in the extreme by Quade Cooper and Digby Ioane that paved the way for the captain’s 37th Ireland try although Deans did acknowledge “it’s what pressure does, it creates doubts among defenders.”

Elsom, who believed he had scored a game breaking try that moved his side seven points clear on the hour, was a lot less sanguine about the concession of the try. He ruefully accepted that “if any Irishman was going to get it, it would be Brian” but couldn’t help wondering aloud why, for that very reason, a closer eye wasn’t kept on the Irishman.

Deans also agreed that “Ireland were a step up on England” whom they had beaten by double scores the previous week.

Whether that’s saying a whole lot is another matter but in fairness the reality is that Ireland should be a whole lot better for having this game under their belts.

Coach Declan Kidney in all probability will mix and match for Saturday’s clash with Fiji at the RDS and the team should be good and ready by the time world champions South Africa arrive at Croke Park on Saturday week.

“The one thing you can’t coach in rugby is attitude and I thought we showed that in bucketfuls,” said Kidney. “We stuck with it and got a draw so it’s one of those strange feelings. You’re a bit numb because you haven’t lost and yet a little disappointed because you haven’t won. It was a bit of a mixed bag of a performance. You’re always hoping to hit the ground running and we didn’t do that so we know there are a lot of areas we must brush up on.”

Winning the ball and hanging on to it are two areas where Kidney and the coaching staff intend to be active over the next couple of weeks. But due credit was also paid to Australia for how “smartly” they played.

Kidney accepted that “they put us under a lot of pressure and we were never really on the front foot but that’s what you’d expect against a Tri-Nations side together for the best part of five months and we’ve had only two weeks together.”

From an individual perspective, no praise is too high to pay for the Irish front-row of Cian Healy, Jerry Flannery and John Hayes, a point forcefully made by Kidney. True, the scrum was destroyed on one or two occasions but given the circumstances in which the trio went into the game, all came through with a deal of credit.

Newcomer Healy was a livewire in open play and one burst in the second half when he was knocked over a couple of times only to somehow get to his feet led to Ireland’s first try by Tommy Bowe.

Hayes, without a match for six weeks, was as solid as ever at tight head and still battling away at the end to such effect that his work in the decisive scrum played a major part in O’Driscoll’s try.

Some believed he should have been penalised at the set piece for allegedly going down on one knee.

Flannery made light of the calf muscle injury that has been dogging him for the past month to contribute as handsomely as ever around the field while his throwing into the lineout was on the money nine times out of 10.

As a consequence, Paul O’Connell, especially, Donncha O’Callaghan and Jamie Heaslip dominated the aerial combat while also serious upsetting the Wallabies on their throw.

David Wallace’s duel with the outstanding Aussie number seven David Pocock was one of the highlights of the game. That it ended on level terms only serves to underline just how well Wallace contributed to the Irish cause, although Stephen Ferris probably played second fiddle to the powerful force that is Rocky Elsom.

Tomás O’Leary’s perfect pass for the two Irish tries were just two of his many outstanding contributions while Ronan O’Gara, without ever trying anything too adventurous, turned in one of his most assured performances for some time.

Both O’Leary and O’Gara were paid a lavish compliment by their captain and certainly their respective performances bode well for country and province over the coming weeks and months.

O’Driscoll accepted that he and O’Gara would “take 50/50 responsibility” for the Australian try conceded as early as the second minute. But equally Kidney was correct in stating that “we’re never going to find out more about ourselves if we don’t try things”.

In the end, they escaped and deservedly so against an Australian side that will become an ever greater force in the build-up to the 2011 World Cup.