I apologise if I missed the thread, but 3rd plays 4th in the IRB rankings is of little consequence.

I do appreciate your contributions, and KO’s for that matter ——distance brings clarity (on occasions) and part of the excitement of the tour is the unknown……………..despite the www you’re a world away

I was not confident that we’d handle the Irish but we did. Almost.

I appreciate your point that Ireland was rusty, but that’s what makes the NH/SH debate difficult in terms of specific teams. One is playing start of season and one end of season.

I’m totally one-eyed watching the match so my examples of Kaplan’s poor reffing were Aussie.But you didn’t suffer in parity , did you. He didn’t send anyone off from Ireland. Surely you’d be miffed if your historically maligned scrum was penalised for dominating

Finally, I have an Irish jersey. It’s my favorite NH team. And if Ireland had to score on the death knell I’m glad it was Brian O’Driscoll in a milestone match for him.

Ridiculous and confusing? Why? There’s no difficulty with understanding 3rd and 4th or SH v NH which is part of the subtext of the game as propounded by many others on here and in media from every quarter. It’s part of the wider battle.

In your criticism of Kaplan, I note that the only examples you cite were ones against Australia – is this just coincidence, or do you believe that he favoured Ireland? I certainly don’t think so, with the Irish being penalised time and again for breakdowns infringements – particularly Ferris who I think was hard done by on a number of occasions.

I don’t agree that Australia kicked better – or maybe I should say I thought both teams were poor – particularly with their kick and chase. Kearney took all the high balls handed out to him and little was gained. Australia did make some pointed grubbers or low kicks to touch from their midfield players, but given they were up against the form lock partnership in Europe in the lineouts, it didn’t work that well as a tactic in the first half.

Kearney’s boomers, Bowe’s kicks and O’Gara’s were pretty ineffective too, most of the kicks being taken by the Aussie receivers and returned. Given the lineout dominance, Ireland should have made more of territorial kicking/touchfinders and taken advantage of subsequent lineout weaknesses.

They have work to do. And in the breakdown area as well. The back three were poor today, and need to improve dramatically. Heaslip has lost form since the Lions tour – I hope he recovers it before Feb.

Including rankings is a ridiculous and confusing addition to discussion of the game.

Ireland ended well. All credit to them but the match was Australia’s and the ending against the run of play

I listened to the Irish commentary which conceded well before the team.

Kaplan’s refereeing is pedantic and mean-spirited, often ending enterprising play. An example was penalising Giteau when Australia broke out, kicked, and he ran upfield pinning the Irish player on the ground. He overtly did not go over until after the ruck had formed, yet Ireland got the penalty.

Likewise Palu’s yellow. They should go to the video ref before sending a player off in such an instance. How much was that error worth

All this said, the Wallabies failed to attack the Irish with ball in hand in the second half. Both pivots kicked to early and failed to inject Ione or AAC let alone the wings. They kicked better than the Irish and got stuck “controlling” position and forgot scoring tries. Defence was good and Cooper hasn’t been exposed to the degree I expected. Instead he has brought better vision and is a worthy replacement for Barnes

The scrum exposed Kaplan again, as he nullified our dominance by penalising us or resetting scrums that had gone through 90.

The lineouts should not be an ongoing problem at this level. New lineout coach please Robbie!

Pocock took the mantle last night. (what’s your response, George?)

Rocky played a great Captain’s knock.

Finally, I take great heart from this match when the criticism is “too composed-not enough attack”. I believe the team will be more confident after this match and the Grand Slam is now silenced.

They will rise against Wales and should win.

The point was about Australia being on the rack – evidenced by Bowe getting over the line for a try attemopt that had to be adjudged by the TMO, and the actual try by O’Driscoll after lots of pressure by Ireland.

Was the same game we watched? FYI:
22.1 GROUNDING THE BALL
There are two ways a player can ground the ball:
(a) Player touches the ground with the ball. A player grounds the ball by holding the ball and touching the ground with it, in in-goal. ‘Holding’ means holding in the hand or hands, or in the arm or arms. No downward pressure is required.
(b) Player presses down on the ball. A player grounds the ball when it is on the ground in the in-goal and the player presses down on it with a hand or hands, arm or arms, or the front of the player’s body from waist to neck inclusive.

Which try was disallowed? Bowe lying on his back like a dead cricket with the ball held up by a couple of Wallabies? There was nothing to disallow here.
3rd ranking confirmed by an away draw against 4 and still UNBEATEN.

Don’t forget Australia were handed their first try on a plate with O’Gara’s shite pass to O’Driscoll. Mitvhell’s face was a picture – you’d think he’d won the world cup such was his delight.

Anyway game over. Roll on Fiji and a chance to see some of the youngsters get a chance.

To say Aus were on the rack is a bit far fetched. If anything Aus had Ireland for most of the game in the Irish half madly defending their line.

I don’t think Ireland should have won at the end. I dare say, neither do the players. It took Ireland all game to finally put some decent attacking play together and if they had taken one of those penalties the pressure would have been off Aus and the play would have been back in the Irish half.

Anyway, we’ll never know will we. Aus were the better team on the night and I think the players expressions at the end said it all. The wallaby players knew they should have put that game away and if Giteau had kicked better it would have been all over well before the Irish finally strung something together.

At least for once the wallabies didn’t lose two in a row and I think that display cemented their position as number 3 in the rankings. Better than 4 but not better than 2.

Welsh commentator don’t you mean?

Thought Ireland should have won it at the end. O’Gara should have taken one of the penalty shots – there was still plenty of time and Oz were on the rack. Pleased that BOD got a try in his 100th test.

Grand slam gone for Oz but it was a good game. Ireland looked rusty and some of their decision making was poor. Wish Kidney had put in Sexton with 20 mins to go.

Some of Irish team looked like they didn’t want to be there. They can be a lot better than this.

Night night.

I hope the Wallabies don’t take this too hard. A result such as this can be a massive demotivator. Anyway I’m just going to go ahead and blame Kaplan for the loss for the sake of blaming the referee, it makes me feel better

Great game, all in all, Pocock probably a deserving MotM, but alas the Grand Slam Dream is dead.

I’m calling it a night, but if there’s any Roarers in the greater Dublin area, it seems dear old Pothale has gone missing. If you see a guy strumbling around prmising never to drink again, and asking for asprin, please return him to this blog……