DUBLIN: Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt’s last dance in a sodden Dublin has ended in desperate disappointment, with the Wallabies losing 46-19.
Ireland’s throwback tactics of high spiral kicks through their playmakers, Sam Prendergast and his replacement Jack Crowley caused chaos for the Wallabies who were punished consistently in their penultimate Test of the year.
Last Saturday in Italy, the Wallabies were punished by two try-scoring Australian-qualified wingers Monty Ioane and Louis Lynagh.
In Dublin, the evening belonged to Canberra-raised Mack Hansen, who scored a hat trick on his first Test at fullback. The Connacht player eventually left the field on 71 minutes to an appreciative roar for an outstanding performance.
Schmidt was back at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, having enjoyed so much success there with Leinster and Ireland. Schmidt coached 44 games there in Ireland for club and country, losing just six times. Unfortunately, leading the Wallabies, Schmidt’s record is tougher reading: played two, lost two. This 27-point defeat may sting the hardest.
The Wallabies had arrived into Ireland with a point to prove with their attack barely firing a shot on this Spring Tour, but in Dublin, it stuttered spectacularly with handling errors that were punished brutally by Ireland. Ireland had been criticised heavily by their local media for their lineout, but it was the Wallabies who misfired in Dublin, losing six on their own throw.
Hansen glided over for Ireland’s first try after the Wallabies were caught largely unaware of a quick tap penalty by Irish halfback Jamison Gibson-Park, ultimately opening up space for Hansen.
Hansen scored his second try within three minutes, after Max Jorgensen fumbled the ball metres from his line after a long spiral kick from Irish five-eighth Sam Prendergast giving the home side a platform from an attacking scrum.
The Wallabies had desperately missed the hard-carrying ability of centre Len Ikitau and on his first game of the Spring tour, the Exeter player muscled over for a desperately needed try to keep his side in the contest.
In under 30 minutes, Hansen had scored his hat trick, after benefiting from an unorthodox Prendergast kick was caught by winger Tommy O’Brien who popped it up for the fullback to score.
Throughout the first half, the Wallabies had been frustrated by their inability to execute attacks, with handling errors frequently stunting them.
Aerially, the Wallabies struggled too, unable to deal with Prendergast’s spiral kicks into the wet Dublin sky, with all of them slipping from their grasp. It was a throwback to Irish rugby strategy at its most traditional.
Rugby Australia is next door to the Sydney Swans training facility and booking a training session with the Australian Rules players in Moore Park needs to be on the priority list ahead of next season. Schmidt described the aerial contest in Dublin as a ‘mad scramble’.
“I think a lot of it (the aerial contest) is players going up one-handed and just looking to create a bit of chaos and then whatever comes up on the ground, it’s a scramble,” Schmidt said.
“It’s a mad scramble which makes it difficult to control that aspect of the game. You’ve just got to try to get into the contest really effectively and then get players around the contest to make sure you get the best chance of getting anything that’s left over from it.”
Fraser McReight, so often one of the Wallabies’ outstanding players on a tough and gruelling Spring tour, squeezed over for a try just before half-time to bring down the deficit to five points.
It was not a Test to be enjoyed, rather endured as the rain fell, with both the Wallabies and Ireland continuing to make unforced errors.
Prendergast’s drop goal on 56 minutes extended Ireland’s lead and also underlined their ability to utilise the poor conditions. His replacement Jack Crowley then kicked a penalty to extend the lead to 11 points.
Captain Caelan Doris rolled over for a converted try to kill off the game for the Wallabies, after outstanding aerial work from Hansen with ten minutes. Nick Frost was also yellow-carded for high contact on Irish prop Thomas Clarkson.
Billy Pollard scored a consolation try to add some polish on the scoreboard, but it was cancelled out by two late tries from Irish breakaway Ryan Baird and centre Robbie Henshaw.
The Dublin crowd were already leaving the stadium, happy to get out to the city’s pubs to toast a very comfortable victory.
The Wallabies and Schmidt face an even more ferocious challenge in Paris against France next Saturday, the final act for Les Misérables on a Spring tour to forget.
“I know the question around what we are asking of the Australian public, we can’t demand anything on the back of what we did in the last 10 minutes tonight,” Schmidt said.
“I’d hope that they’d look across the whole game and just see how hard some of those players were working and try to project that forward for us when we roll our sleeves up again next week in Paris”.