Paulie promises plenty more to come

Paul O’Connell believes his Ireland side have plenty more to offer head coach Joe Schmidt as they turn into a World Cup year.

The Ireland captain produced a man of the match performance at Aviva Stadium on Saturday night as the men in green withstood a late onslaught from Australia.

The 26-23 victory over Michael Cheika’s Wallabies completed an unbeaten November Guinness Series following wins over South Africa and tier-two Georgia that helped Ireland to third in the world rankings and rounded out a calendar year that brought just one defeat in 10 Tests, a narrow loss to England in February. It has led to heightened public expectation as Ireland prepare to defend their RBS 6 Nations title in the spring and embark on a World Cup campaign in September with a belief that a first semi-final appearance at the least is within their grasp.