Mistakes to blame for defeat - O'Connell

Paul O’Connell was left to rue Ireland’s error count as they ended their southern hemisphere tour with an 18-12 defeat to Australia.

The tourists briefly led 7-5 at the Telstra Dome in Melbourne and almost snatched a late victory after rallying from 18-7 behind.

But lock O’Connell was unhappy with the mistakes which allowed the Wallabies to touchdown twice.

He said on Sky Sports 1: “We were making too many mistakes, myself included.

“If we want to get to get to the next level, we need to cut that out. We cut out the mistakes today and we win the game, and that’s very disappointing.”

He added: “We conceded two soft tries. I don’t think Matt Giteau should have been allowed to offload for the second try and likewise Lote Tuqiri for the first try.”

Today’s result followed last weekend’s 21-11 defeat to New Zealand in Auckland.

While O’Connell was frustrated at his side’s inability to beat the southern hemisphere teams in their own backyard, he can see signs of progress.

“We’ve been together a good few years now, this team, and we need to start stepping up and winning down in the southern hemisphere,” he said.

“We’ve been talking a bit about that lately and I think we did step up today.”

Of Ireland’s strong finish, he added: “We’re a very fit side. Irish rugby had a very disappointing World Cup but it’s at a very good stage.”

Australia captain Stirling Mortlock was relieved to have survived Ireland’s fightback, admitting his side were caught cold after half-time.

“We’ve been a little bit scrappy,” he said.

“You can’t take anything away from Ireland.”

He added: “We seem to have little bit of an issue coming out slow after half-time.”