Ireland’s bench delivered in a tense endgame against Joe Schmidt’s side.
65:30 Just under 15 minutes to go, Ireland 19-15 behind the Wallabies after a performance pockmarked by errors, pressure on.Sent onto the pitch at the same time, replacement halfbacks Craig Casey and Jack Crowley are tasked with guiding Ireland back in front and seeing out a win.
What’s key in this endgame is that Andy Farrell’s team react well to any setbacks and that’s what happens here as hooker Rónan Kelleher immediately hammers into Wallabies scrum-half Tate McDermott. Ireland have made a huge deal of delivering for their team-mates on milestone occasions under Farrell and there is no greater milestone than Healy’s.
That leaves Wallabies outside centre Joseph Suaalii having to make a read and he shoots up as Casey fires his pass out the back of Lowe to Crowley. Still, had fullback Hugo Keenan not overrun him here, then Henshaw would have had the option to draw Jorgensen and feed Keenan on the outside.As it is, Henshaw fires up a fend and even though Jorgensen drags him to ground, Ireland are over the gainline having stretched the Wallabies.
The Wallabies number 10 recovers to slap down Crowley’s fend and stretch out to scrag him, meaning fullback Tom Wright doesn’t have to bite in and leave Mack Hansen free for a pass from Crowley, but the Irish out-half has made clear progress. Ringrose is close to Beirne for the clearout and will be disappointed not to have shifted McReight away but it’s a brilliant steal.
Ireland play off the top and Casey shows composure to delay his pass as Frost breaks up from the lineout. Ireland are direct in the next four phases, carrying in the tight channels through Hansen, Henshaw, O’Mahony, and McCarthy. McCarthy decides to have a dart at the line himself but he’s held up brilliantly by McReight and wing Andrew Kellaway.
They immediately bounce back to their right as Crowley sets up behind Ireland’s pod of three forwards. Crowley identifies that with Kellaway and Lolesio now up on the edge of the Australian defence, fullback Wright has lots of ground to cover as he swings across the backfield. Van der Flier arrives to take the ball from Henderson as Healy slots in on his left, with Beirne on his right.
In this instance, the initial counter effort from the Wallabies comes from Ireland’s right and they intuitively swing up to their left to get forward momentum, O’Mahony helping to steer them up that side. Ireland have managed to maintain excellent shape and with Alaalatoa and Salakai-Loto on the ground, they sense the opportunity back to their right.
Initially, Suaalii was used down the middle of the pitch but Henshaw did an excellent job with single lifts from behind by van der Flier. It’s important that McCarthy isn’t on top of Beirne too early here, potentially blocking him from getting into the ideal spot to catch the ball. The restart win means Ireland are already close to the Wallabies’ 10-metre line, rather than deep in their own 22 after a longer restart. That means they don’t have to build for an exit kick but instead can launch a contestable with the aim of winning the ball back just inside the Australian half.
Even still, the time they put into the tackle means the Wallabies are operating off slow ball. Indeed, it ends up being nearly an eight-second ruck for the Australians, awfully slow ball for any attack. A good kick will either put Wright under more pressure as he gathers the ball close to the touchline or bounce into touch to allow the Irish lineout defence to put some pressure on the set-piece.The kick error means Ireland must defend from an Australian lineout near halfway.
Having regained possession, Ireland snap into their phase play without great initial intent to break the Wallabies. The Irish pack make a mess of the scrum and McDermott gets the ball from Wilson just before Casey wraps him up and flings him to ground.He clearly wins the race to the ball and gets his hands onto it before Wilson gets back around to try and clear him away.
Doris and Crowley both fight hard to stay on their feet post-tackle, meaning they can once again slow the Aussie recycle. This kind of defensive work is a real point of difference for Crowley.
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