Last Gasp Try Grabs Ireland An Australian Draw

Ireland 20 Australia 20

By Denis O'Brien

In the first of their Guinness Series Test matches on Sunday at Croke Park, Ireland fought hard to secure a richly deserved draw against Australia with a last minute try and conversion.

After a series of tremendous Irish phases that saw Tommy Bowe nearly claiming his second try but just prevented from touching down, Ireland trailing by seven points were awarded a scrum five yards out with a minute left to play.

For the past 10 they had laid siege on the Australian end line with the Ozzie defense proving a tough nut to crack. Still there was hope as both the Irish pack and backs were playing well and each phase had brought them tantalizingly closer to the Australian line.

From the scrum, Jamie Heaslip offloaded to Tomas O'Leary who, with a precise long pass out to O'Driscoll, exposed the Australian cover, and the enigmatic captain ran into the gap and over the line right between the Croker posts for a fine try.

With the last kick of the game, Ronan O'Gara easily executed the conversion to grab Ireland a late but yet deserved draw.

The Grand Slam champions, despite conceding an early and rather soft try, never allowed Australia to extend the lead beyond seven points throughout the game. Even though Australia did enjoy control of the ball for parts of the first half and during the early part of the second, they were unable to put Ireland away.

In times of yore, with a quarter left to play, you would have expected the Ozzies to not only protect a 20-13 lead but push on and win comfortably. Yet, the quality of play and determination of this particular Irish side hinted that Australia wouldn't have things all their own way.

Ireland trailed by 6-10 at the break and began to come under increasing pressure early in the second half as Australia kept the home side pinned back in their own half. Despite missing a couple of penalties already, Matt Giteau made no mistake when he converted a 54th minute effort to push the lead out to seven.

Giteau and Quade Cooper looked the most dangerous of the Australian backs as they succeeded in punching holes in Ireland's defense but penetration to the end line was yet proving difficult.

Ireland responded in splendid fashion and it was the new cap, prop Cian Healy, who was having a fine match, fetched from the drop-out and made a great burst upfield showing great strength to gain yardage with half of the Ozzie pack hanging out of him.

The Irish crowd who had been quieter than usual up to this point - the air of gloom in the stadium after the disappointment of the soccer match the night before may have had something to do with that - finally began to get behind the Grand Slam champions. Ireland pushed forward and now had Australia under pressure and after several forays, O'Leary passed wide to Tommy Bowe who went over and the TV match official confirmed that the ball had been grounded and a try was awarded. O'Gara converted to tie the scores 13-13 with Ireland right back in the thick of things.

Ireland deserved that as they had never let Australia out of their sight and gave as good as they got. Luke Fitzgerald - who unfortunately had to retire due to injury just before - had been doing well, as had full back Rob Kearney, scrum half Tomas O'Leary, with forwards Paul O'Connell, David Wallace, Jerry Flannery, and Healy, all also influential. The rest though were still doing their bit and Australia knew they were in a fight with 25 minutes left to play.

Sensing danger the Ozzies went on the attack immediately with excellent flanker David Pocock making a good break after O'Gara allowed him to open a gap. Now it was Australia's turn to apply the pressure and after several phases, they came within 25 yards of the Irish line. In a flowing movement with excellent hands and interchanges, the former Leinster player Elsom went crashing for the corner flag and just got in for a well worked try.

Often shaky in his kicking, Giteau in his best kick of the afternoon converted from a very difficult angle to leave seven between the sides once more and Ireland in trouble.

But Ireland again rose to the occasion and with some incisive touch kicking by O'Gara and Rob Kearney, the home side piled on the pressure. Ireland showed good hands from both the pack and the backs - a feature of their game throughout - and attacked Australia with every chance. O'Leary with a pass looked to have Bowe set up for the touch line, but the movement was judged to have been forward.

Ireland made good use of penalty kicks to gain yardage and with the lineout magnificent, led imperiously by O'Connell, they inched and battled forward in rolling malls but Australia's defense held solid.

Ireland playing some great rugby kept the mighty Ozzies pinned down near their own end line and with two minutes left, the constant pressure proved too much when O'Driscoll found a gap for that all important try.

At the start, the visitors had shocked Ireland when just two minutes in they opened up a seven-point lead when captain Rocky Elsom intercepted an O'Leary pass meant for O'Driscoll's and the big man went all the way to the Irish line for a try. Giteau converted but three minutes later Ireland recovered well and after making good yardage were awarded a penalty and O'Gara duly obliged.

Both teams were moving the ball well with Australia just shading it in the possession stakes but they were by no means dominant. Giteau missed an easy looking penalty, but O'Gara as dependable as ever, made no mistake when he converted a three pointer - David Wallace had forced the Australian error - to leave just a point in it at 7-6.

An offside call on O'Leary allowed Giteau another chance and this time he slotted the penalty between the posts.

From the drop-out Elsom made another good break and were it not for a great O'Driscoll hand-trip, he again might have gone all the way.

Australia's Wycliff Palu was then sin-binned for 10 minutes after a high tackle on Kearney and the four-point gap was maintained to the half time whistle.

Throughout the match Ireland showed good hands, excellent lineout capability and most impressively held on to possession in the ruck.

While at times Ireland looked rusty in allowing defensive gaps, it must be remembered that this was their first competitive game in six months while Australia had games under their belt when recently losing to the All Blacks in Tokyo 32-19 and just last weekend had beaten England 18-9.

Though Ireland may also have come under pressure in the scrum, they still looked sharp and were every bit as good as Australia. When compared against the other two touring Tri Nations sides, the All Blacks, who recently edged Wales, while champions South Africa, didn't look particularly impressive in a loss to France, Ireland are right up there with the best of them.