AUSTRALIA 18 IRELAND 12: AN EXCEPTIONAL effort under the circumstances, and effort being the operative word.
There would have been few recriminations if this Irish team had folded up their tents long before the finish here yet instead there they were at the end, going through 18 phases as they hammered away in a forlorn pursuit of the converted try that would have given Ireland their first away win in the Southern Hemisphere for 29 years and in 25 attempts. Some of them must have been playing on memory by that stage.
Compared to the World Cup and Six Nations campaigns, this two-Test tour represented a high in terms of performance. Yet that will be little consolation as they dragged their weary bodies into the night before setting off to various corners of the world for four weeks or so of the most deserved holidays most of them will ever have earned. In fact, to expend so much energy and come so close will only have made the pain worse.
When Roger Federer suffered the most ignominious defeat of his career in Roland Garros to Rafa Nadal he tried to console himself with the thought that at least he could have no complaints. He wasn't ruing missed chances. Sometimes, a good thumping can almost ease the pain.
Typically for this Irish team, the 2007-2008 season ended with another that got away, another one to rue. The statistics will show Ireland had a better than 60-40 ratio of both the territory and the possession, and that only tells half the tale, for they also played more rugby and had more chances. They even made six line breaks to the Wallabies' two.
Ultimately though, they could have structured their game better, and played somewhat into the hands of a superior Australian defence by going too wide too often and too early, without generating more momentum closer in. Playing deep just invited Stirling Mortlock and co onto them, and so they lacked penetration in the face of the Wallabies' fast line speed and umbrella defence - witness the number of times Brian O'Driscoll in particular received man and ball. It didn't help that his midfield partnership with Paddy Wallace didn't gel.
For all their eagerness to give the ball plenty of air and use their backs, at times they seemed almost too keen to do so, and might have been advised to generate momentum closer inside before going wide.
Toward the end of the first half, Ronan O'Gara began to vary the running game by working the ball back inside, and in the second half he also played a good deal flatter. Yet, in what was an ambitious if slightly giddy performance, Ireland might also have kept their heads a bit better, and as Eoin Reddan observed in the dressing-room afterwards they forced things a little.
And, when it came to the crunch, their set-pieces weren't reliable enough, with the Wallabies - as is their wont - getting away with blue murder at scrum time in their ongoing personal crusade, on and off the pitch, to rid the game of one of its traditional fulcrums. In addition to a strike against the head which led to Matt Giteau pushing Australia 15-7 ahead, twice Ireland coughed up attacking five-metre scrums, the second when wheeled on Tony Buckley's side after he had just replaced John Hayes.
However, the penalty against John Hayes by Christophe Berdos with Ireland pressing soon after - when Benn Robinson arrowed into the turf unassisted - was a laughable low point in an undistinguished performance.
It's perhaps too easy to pick out the better, fresher performances from those who were not originally part of the Untouchables or even the World Cup squad. Oozing confidence, Robert Kearney was at times scintillating in his counterattacking and Jamie Heaslip took a huge step up from last week, while Tommy Bowe looked razor sharp on the left.
Yet, of the stalwarts who also dug deep, how good was Denis Leamy? Immense from the start and seemingly everywhere, twice he made telling contributions in the build-up to Ireland's opening try, when he himself was driven over off Donncha O'Callaghan's take with the help, particularly, of Paul O'Connell, Marcus Horan and Rory Best in locating the Wallabies' soft side.
With all their territory and possession, Ireland tried several set moves, looked to offload and made quite a few of them, and played with plenty of width; actually being tackled into touch on both wings inside the first five minutes. That mauling try was a reward for all of that as well, as Shane Horgan's offload to Rory Best freed Leamy for the initial run, and then a daring interchange up the right by Heaslip, Horgan, Shane Jennings and Heaslip again, led to Leamy's deft grubber to force the attacking lineout.
Operating off slimmer rations, the Wallabies still looked the more potent side, not least because they did set harder targets and their backs thus worked off quicker, go-forward ball. Wycliff Palu was the instigator in chief of this, and Robbie Deans's inclusion of George Smith ahead of Phil Waugh was vindicated by the flanker's beautifully delayed pass to release Lote Tuqiri for the latter to put the supporting Berrick Barnes over.
Not only did their wingers drop deep to negate O'Gara's kicking game, when Tuqiri fielded one such kick he, Cameron Shepherd and Peter Hynes instigated a high-tempo counterattack. Off the recycle, there still seemed little on when Matt Giteau stepped and ran hard at Leamy, Paul O'Connell and Peter Stringer, somehow delaying a stunning one-handed offload back across his body to put James Horwill over.
Ireland won the second half 5-3, scant reward for chances created as Wallace and O'Driscoll in turn failed to put each other away and Horgan's try-scoring offload to Heaslip was correctly adjudged forward.
Liberal use of the bench helped keep Ireland interested though and just past the hour Leamy made a stunning catch on the run to Reddan's defensive box kick. Quick hands by Reddan and O'Gara, and Kearney's half-break and offload released Tommy Bowe, who sprinted up the touchline to draw the last man before putting O'Driscoll over.
Any chance of making history though was undermined by first an overthrow and then a crooked throw by Jerry Flannery. The match ended with Ireland doing everything they could to keep the ball alive, running on quicksand, throwing bodies which must have been nearly numb with exhaustion into rucks.
It was not to be. Such has been their lot this season.
Match Statistics
Scoring sequence: 6 mins: Barnes try 5-0; 15 mins: Leamy try, O'Gara con 5-7; 21 mins: Horvill try, Giteau con 12-7; 27 mins: Giteau pen 15-7; (half-time 15-7); 44 mins: Giteau pen 18-7; 62 mins: O'Driscoll try 18-12.
AUSTRALIA: C Shepherd (Western Force); P Hynes (Queensland Reds), S Mortlock (ACT Brumbies, capt), B Barnes (Queensland Reds), L Tuqiri (NSW Waratahs); M Giteau (Western Force), L Burgess (NSW Waratahs); B Robinson (NSW Waratahs), S Moore (Queensland Reds), M Dunning (NSW Waratahs), J Horwill (Queensland Reds), N Sharpe (Western Force), R Elsom (NSW Waratahs), G Smith (ACT Brumbies), W Palu (NSW Waratahs). Replacements: D Mumm (NSW Waratahs) for Sharpe (46-56 mins) and for Elsom (70 mins), A Baxter (NSW Waratahs) for Dunning (58 mins), A Freier (NSW Waratahs) for Moore, P Waugh (NSW Waratahs) for Palu (both 74 mins), S Cordingley (Queensland Reds) for Burgess (77 mins). Not used: R Cross (Western Force), A Ashley-Cooper (ACT Brumbies).
IRELAND: R Kearney (UCD/Leinster); S Horgan (Boyne/Leinster), B O'Driscoll (UCD/Leinster, capt), P Wallace (Ballymena/Ulster), T Bowe (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster); R O'Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster), P Stringer (Shannon/Munster); M Horan (Shannon/Munster), R Best (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster), J Hayes (Bruff/Munster), D O'Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster), P O'Connell (Young Munster/Munster), D Leamy (Cork Constitution/Munster), S Jennings (St Mary's College/Leinster), J Heaslip (Clontarf/Leinster). Replacements: S Ferris (Ulster) for Jennings (25 mins), J Flannery (Shannon/Munster) for R Best (50 mins), E Reddan (Wasps) for Stringer (both 50 mins), T Buckley (Shannon/Munster) for Hayes (53 mins), G Murphy (Leicester) for Horgan (59 mins), G Dempsey (Terenure College/Leinster) for O'Driscoll (70 mins), Hayes for Horan (74 mins). Not used: M O'Driscoll (Cork Constitution/Munster).
Referee: Christophe Berdos(France).
