Ireland vs Australia: Autumn Nations Series Rugby Union – live | Autumn Nations series

30 mins Australia read what I posted last and came to the conclusion that I had to put myself in my place when a short pass to McReight in the corner left the back row free into the Irish half. The ball is recycled but the pace is lost, allowing the home team to hinder and thwart the attack.

29 mins Fraser McReight grabs a ball on the 22-minute break after Ireland had some busy periods of passing and clearance from the home team. The second quarter has belonged to Ireland so far and although that attack was thwarted, it seems inevitable that the men in green will soon score again.

26 mins Ireland continue to fight their way back into this game, this time with a quick goal from the scrum free kick. Prendergast executes a nostalgic Sextone-esque runaround to feed Hansen, but the Gold defense covers him long before the ball gets all the way back to Lowe on the left, who throws a forced pass into the goal.

ATTEMPT! Ireland 5 – 10 Australia (Josh Van Der Flier)

21 mins Rob Valentini gets into trouble when he fakes a kickback, and as he turns and runs, he drives his forearm into the neck of the pursuing Hansen. The TMO wants the referee to take a look and he concludes that the contact was more on the body than on the neck, so penalty only.

At least referee Piardi is implementing his previous lenient decisions equally….

ATTEMPT! Ireland 0 – 10 Australia (Max Jorgensen)

17 mins Australia allows the ball to pass through their hands in the Irish half. There are a few glimpses of breaking the green tackle line, but none are fully realized before the ball is kicked away.

14 mins A decent first phase pattern from Ireland is almost enough to break the Aussie line, but eventually loses momentum, which is an opportunity for the ever-thinking Gibson Park to deliver an angled kick that hits deep in the Wallaby Territory comes into contact. Excellent tactical stuff from the scrum half.

12 mins. A Bealham attack, his second non-pressure attack of the game, stops another Ireland attack and the ball is cleared after Gordon retrieves it from a retreating Gold scrum. It’s still early, but the Wallaby set-piece is already creaking.

PENALTY! Ireland 0 – 3 Australia (Noah Lolesio)

Time runs out as the TMO sees a head-to-head duel after Joe McCarthy sends Valetini flying. Referee Piardi takes one look and says there was only a small amount of danger and punishment.

This appears to be largely due to the fact that McCarthy went backwards after hitting Valetini. So basically it’s not a card because the Irish Lock isn’t strong enough, ignoring the fact that his tackling technique was always bottom-up, which is what the protocols are supposed to do discourage.

8 mins Valetini flies down the lane to throw the ball away before Ryan’s tap can reach Gibson-Park; A great steal from the Australian. This means the guests are in attack in the Irish half

6 mins It takes a while for the Irish scrum to settle just outside the Wallaby 22, which ends up leading to a free kick for the home team. The ball is quickly tapped by Gibson-Park and a neat pass from Prendergast finds Keenan galloping to the line, but Kellaway rattles the ball out in the covering tackle to parry the full-back. Knock on and Australia escape the scrum.

2 mins Australia receives the ball and begins the usual few phases of passing it through their hands, resulting in about 0.25 meters being traveled, and so Lolesio decides to hit the ball clear. The ball doesn’t reach the ball and Ireland have a few periods of their own which come to an end after a Prendergast grubber at the 22 is fumbled forward by the covering Lolesio.

Start!

The teams are out listening to the anthems on an incredibly mild winter day in Western Europe as temperatures hover around 15 degrees Celsius. Should make for quite a spectacle as it always helps if you can feel your hands while playing.

Much was made of Cian Healy in the run-up to his breaking the all-time caps record for Ireland, taking his tally to 134, one point more than Brian O’Driscoll’s previous total. The number of appearances of this level is impressive enough without having to be a prop.

Reading before the game

You can contact me by email up to and during the game and I welcome any correspondence on any topic.

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