Australian Press report on win over Ireland

Stretch*

Australia's performance was not perfect, not by a long way, and Wales will prove as much of a handful at the set-piece and line-out as did a vastly improved Ireland, but in broken play the visitors broke Irish tackles and hearts.

Lote Tuqiri and Morgan Turinui were in commanding form in the middle of the back-line, Drew Mitchell on the left wing was dazzling in scoring two tries, while Chris Latham at full-back, was flawless, fast and fearless.

No wonder Ireland's new boy Andrew Trimble, the Ulster centre, was moved to observe of the Aussies: "They look smaller on TV. In real life, up close and alongside you they are bigger and stronger."

Eddie O'Sullivan, the Ireland coach, admitted: "Southern hemisphere sides are clinical and take advantage of all lapses."

For the Australians it does not get any easier, but Jones said simply: "Beating Wales would be a good way to finish the year."

RuggieBear

That drew mitchell is shit quick.

Stretch*

He's had a hard intro to International rugby with Aussie's current form problems, i think his first test was against the AB's in the Tri Nations?..but he hit form real quick and has been a standout player.

RuggieBear

Stretch* wrote:

He's had a hard intro to International rugby with Aussie's current form problems, i think his first test was against the AB's in the Tri Nations?..but he hit form real quick and has been a standout player.

never really heard of him but the tries he got against england and ireland were pretty good.....dragging players over with him showed he is strong and the long range effort against Ireland showed his really quick. Impressive player and only 20ish

Snickers Man

I'm no admirer of the Sydney Morning Herald's Greg Growden but his analysis of this match was quite up to scratch.

Two poor teams having an off day.

That game was there for the taking if the Irish players' heads hadn't been up their arses. If you can't convert 70 per cent possession (stats in the first half) into something more than a 6-3 lead there's something seriously wrong.

CJhaughey

Snickers Man wrote:

I If you can't convert 70 per cent possession (stats in the first half) into something more than a 6-3 lead there's something seriously wrong.

Yep it is called EOS

Stretch*

NZ is accused of recruiting from the Pacific Islands, do you think Ireland should look to it's Island neighbours and recruit from Greenland or Iceland for superior talent...?

Snickers Man

No need. All we have to do is play some of the top notch players we have at top clubs around Europe but who seem to have fallen foul of a policy that militates against those who started their careers at home and then skipped across the water or to France when they hit the (low lying) glass ceiling.

Not too many scintillating backs to call upon, but there are quite a few beefy forwards (Casey, Brennan, Jennings, McCullen) who would do no harm to a team lacking a little in self belief.

What galls me is they're likely to go to New Zealand to look for some bloke with an Irish granny and draft him in to play for Cork Con or some such rather than pick somebody who grew up in the game here and went abroad to further their career. It's petty and mean and self defeating.

Our provinces are fine. They'll keep their support. WE need the national team to be playing the best players.

Stretch*

That sounds reasonable, it's an issue for all international rugby isn"t it...how do you handle players who elect to play overseas for more money etc. We have a fairly strict policy on eligibility, but at times it seems to penalise either a form player offshore or the AB's when we need depth not available onshore.