IRELAND SQUARES MITSUBISHI ESTATE IRELAND SERIES WITH TIGHT WIN IN MELBOURNE

IRELAND SQUARES MITSUBISHI ESTATE IRELAND SERIES WITH TIGHT WIN IN MELBOURNE

JUNE 16, 2018

Mitsubishi Estate Ireland Series Qantas Wallabies v Ireland AAMI Park, Melbourne The Qantas Wallabies have fallen to Ireland 21-26 in another tight battle at AAMI Park in Melbourne on Saturday night. The Irish drew level in the best-of-three Mitsibushi Estate Ireland Series in a contest where they controlled possession and dominated territory to set up a blockbuster series decider at Allianz Stadium in Sydney next weekend. Joe Schmidt had made eight changes to his Irish team after they were beaten in Brisbane, and it was returning stars Tadhg Furlong, Johnny Sexton, Connor Murray and Devin Toner that led the charge. In front of 29, 012 fans on a chilly Melbourne night, the Wallabies got off to a perfect start when centre Kurtley Beale sliced through to score under the posts inside the opening two minutes. The visitors capitalised immediately after Marika Koroibete was shown a yellow card, with his opposite Andrew Conway crossing out wide to level the scores. Sexton then piloted three penalty goals to open up a 16-7 lead, before the Wallabies claimed a penalty try to narrow the margin to two points at the break. The Wallabies lost half Will Genia to an arm injury before the break, and shortly after half time lock Adam Coleman joined him on the sidelines after a head clash with Israel Folau. Ireland pounced on the wounded Wallabies when man-of-the-match Furlong burst through a hole off a clever pass from Murray. Trailling 26-14 after another Sexton penalty, the Wallabies struck back in the dying stages through a try to replacement prop Taniela Topou which put them within a sniff of victory. It was not Australia’s night though, as the ball was spilled on their last gasp attacking raid and Ireland held on for the win.

2 mins: Kurtley Beale try, Bernard Foley con AUS 7-0 IRE 6 mins: Marika Koroibete yellow card 7 mins: Andrew Conway try, Jonathan Sexton con AUS 7-7 IRE 13 mins: Jonathan Sexton pen AUS 7-10 IRE 17 mins: Jonathan Sexton pen AUS 7-13 IRE 22 mins: Jonathan Sexton pen AUS 7-16 IRE 27 mins: Penalty try Australia AUS 14-16 IRE 27 mins: Cian Healy yellow card 54 mins: Tadhg Furlong try, Jonathan Sexton con AUS 14-23 IRE 67 mins: Jonathan Sexton pen, AUS 14-26 IRE 76 mins: Jack McGrath yellow card 77 mins: Taniela Tupou try, Bernard Foley con AUS 21-26 IRE

Qantas Wallabies 15. Israel Folau, 14. Dane Haylett-Petty, 13. Samu Kerevi, 12. Kurtley Beale (23. Reece Hodge, 64 mins), 11. Marika Koroibete, 10. Bernard Foley, 9. Will Genia (22. Nick Phipps, 27 mins), 8. Caleb Timu (20. Lukhan Tui, 40 mins) 7. Michael Hooper ©, 6. David Pocock, 5. Adam Coleman (19. Rob Simmons, 42 mins), 4. Izack Rodda (21. Peter Samu, 56 mins) 3. Sekope Kepu (18. Taniela Tupou, 50 mins) 2. Brandon Paenga-Amosa (16. Tolu Latu, 40 mins) 1. Scott Sio (17. Tom Robertson, 71 mins) *replacements in brackets

Ireland 15. Rob Kearney, 14. Andrew Conway (23. Jordan Larmour, 15 mins), 13. Garry Ringrose, 12. Robbie Henshaw, 11. Keith Earls, 10. Jonathan Sexton (21. John Cooney, 78 mins), 9. Connor Murray, 8. CJ Stander 7. Dan Leavy, (20. Jordi Murphy, 40 mins), 6. Peter O’Mahony © (19. Tadhg Beirne, 66 mins), 5. James Ryan, 4. Devin Toner (Joey Carbery, 78 mins), 3. Tadhg Furlong (18. Andrew Porter, 71 mins), 2. Niall Scannell (16. Rob Herring, 50 mins) 1. Cian Healy (17. Jack McGrath, 45 mins)

Match Notes: Second Test of a three-Test series for the Lansdowne Cup Series tied 1-1 Ireland first win over Australia on Australian soil since 1979 (39 years) Ireland first win in Australia since 2003 (Rugby World Cup)