Irish edged by world champs

Yes, this was the sort of effort that made the 25,000 Irish supporters at the match, and millions of TV viewers around the world, proud. There was fire, brimstone and no shortage of skill. But the result was a shame. A victory would have given coach Eddie O’Sullivan and his players a quarterfinal against lowly Scotland and a half-open door into the semifinal, but instead of looking likely to become the most successful Ireland team in the history of the tournament, the opponents next Sunday are France.
Even if the days when French forwards only had to breathe on the Irish and the game was a lost cause are thankfully long gone, the current side, which has stormed its way into the last eight of this World Cup, is vastly superior to Scotland and is already looking like the main threat to both England and New Zealand.
To compound Ireland’s frustration at a missed opportunity, the prospect of facing France has been made all the more intimidating by the loss of leading try scorer Denis Hickie, whose torn Achilles tendon has already put him on the plane back to Ireland along with Alan Quinlan, who dislocated his shoulder in the win over Argentina.
For just a moment at the end of last Saturday’s riveting contest in Melbourne’s Telstra Dome, the Irish players looked as if they might set off on a lap of honor — just for a second, mind you. That would have been an acceptance of defeat, something their predecessors had become dab hands at, so instead there was a quick salute to the supporters and nothing more.
“To run Australia that close is not such a great achievement,” reflected captain Keith Wood, who had another outstanding game. “The great achievement in rugby is when you come away with a win.”
As for O’Sullivan, he wasn’t too enamored of descriptions of his team as plucky.
“It’s a bit of a putdown really,” he said. “I thought it was a very good performance by a bloody good Irish team, but it was definitely a game that got away from us. I felt with 10 minutes to go we were going to take it. I felt the energy in the team, and I’m disappointed it didn’t happen.”
If, on the plus side, this was a memorable collective display by a side that played with a major burden of expectation on its shoulders in edging out Argentina in the previous pool game, and if Brian O’Driscoll, Paul O’Connell, Shane Horgan, Simon Easterby and the irrepressible Wood were particularly impressive, there were also one or two areas that led to Ireland’s downfall.
Two kickable penalty opportunities were turned down during the second half as the Irish went looking for a try. Admirable in one sense, but against the reigning world champions in their own backyard, you simply must take every chance that comes your way. On top of that, the normally reliable Ronan O’Gara missed two penalties that were well within his range, and Horgan was needlessly sin-binned when he kicked out at the Australia full-back, Mat Rogers, after a penalty had initially been awarded to the Irish.
But it turned out to be a day when Ireland were entitled not to dwell for too long on the negatives. They withstood a fast and furious opening by the Wallabies, who built up an 11-3 lead after 20 minutes. However, as the Irish forwards began to exert massive pressure on the opposition with O’Connell a tower of strength at the lineout, the momentums soon began to shift.
O’Gara’s second penalty reduced the gap to 11-6 at the interval, and even when Elton Flatley put Australia 14-6 in front, by now Ireland had grasped the initiative. Exerting almost constant pressure in the home half of the pitch, eventually John Kelly, who had come on as a replacement for the injured Hickie, created a chink of light for O’Driscoll to dive through two tackles at the corner flag for a superb try. O’Gara converted and the margin was down to just one point.
It was just reward for the mercurial O’Driscoll, whose performances earlier in the tournament had been underwhelming. This time, he delivered a five-star display and when Flatley was on the mark to make it 17-13, O’Driscoll kicked a drop goal from broken play to yet again cut the Aussies’ lead to just a single point.
With the clock running down, David Humphreys was sent in to replace the tiring O’Gara, and within seconds Humphreys almost won the game for Ireland when his towering drop goal attempt from 40 yards drifted agonizingly wide of the post.
“We’re not that happy with our own performance,” said Australia coach Eddie Jones, “but Ireland played bloody well. Wood was outstanding and O’Driscoll played by far his best game of the tournament. They’re a very good side and we should be giving them credit for their performance.”
Certainly, Ireland have no need to fear any of the teams left in the last eight, least of all France, who they have beaten three times in the last five years, but the nagging feeling that an historic safe passage to the semifinals of World Cup has been squandered just won’t go away.
With no shock results in the tournament to date, World Cup favorites England and New Zealand remain on course to meet in the final later this month. New Zealand kick off the quarterfinals with a demanding game against 1995 champions South Africa in Melbourne on Saturday, while defending champions Australia shouldn’t have too much trouble in defeating Scotland in Brisbane.
Ireland are first into action on Sunday when they meet France in Melbourne, with England expected to easily get the better of Wales later in the day in Brisbane.