International Rules hit the big time in Melbourne last night when a record crowd of 64,326 turned up for this year's first test between Ireland and Australia. It is a pity that such a large audience was treated to one of the least distinguished matches the series have produced over the last 15 years.

Certainly it was evenly contested on the scoreboard and the Australians came within an ace of filching the result, as they had done in last year's first test in Croke Park. Yet there was a static, stop-go quality to the match that made it hard for the crowd to get fully behind their team and maybe create a winning momentum.

This shouldn't detract from the great successes of the night, including Ireland's controlled display. The huge attendance, bigger than this year's All-Ireland final crowd, indicated that the Australians will indeed come out to see the game if it is well promoted.

During the week, AFL president Wayne Jackson had said that the match deserved a crowd of 60,000. By last night, as the throngs closed in on the historic Melbourne Cricket Ground, which was illuminated by a pre-match fireworks display, the guffaws which had originally greeted Jackson's words died in all our throats.

It had been felt that for the Australian public to demonstrate the sort of interest which would make the concept a long-term viability, at least 30,000 would have to turn out. That figure was doubled and now there is talk of a capacity crowd in Adelaide in a week's time.

Whereas scepticism about such matters is currently unfashionable, we won't cast it aside for another week given that Melbourne is the capital of Australian football and Adelaide a distant satellite.

On the field, Australia will be kicking themselves - but not accurately enough - about the manner in which they lost this match. Having set out to mark their ground physically, they found the Irish neither intimidated nor that interested in such preliminary skirmishing.

By the time the home side had woken up to that fact, they were 17 points down. Once they settled on the round ball, Australia more than held their own territorially and in terms of possession, but their finishing was abysmal.

In the final quarter, with Ireland showing terrible signs of fatigue, Australia swarmed up the pitch but from a variety of good positions blazed the ball for one-point behinds when three-point overs were on obvious offer.

One of Ireland's most striking advantages was the team's cohesiveness. Of the side which beat Australia on aggregate in last year's series, all but six of the team and interchange players survived.

For their part Australia had only seven players from last year and this manifested itself in a few ways. For a start, the teamwork wasn't as seamless as Ireland's. Secondly, unfamiliarity with the round ball had a dreadful effect on some of the shooting and this is an area which the management agreed they would be working on.

Thirdly, there was a tactical gaucheness about the attempts of two and three players to bring off spectacular marks near to goal rather than fall back and wait on the break which invariably went to one of Ireland's hard-working defenders.

Fourthly, the facts of the match suggested that the best of the home side were players with experience of the series: captain Nathan Buckley, who was top scorer on the evening with 19 points (five overs, four behinds), Wayne Campbell, who came on and had a substantial impact, and Stephen Silvagin, who again excelled in goal, particularly with a one-on-one save from Tohill in the 31st minute.

Having recovered from conceding 17 points without reply, Australia played their way back into the match and by half-time there was only a brace of points between them at 33-31.

The tactic of concentrating defensive cover on Peter Canavan, who had done a lot of damage in last year's second test, paid dividends with Jason Akermanis sticking to his task, although he couldn't altogether silence the Irish vice-captain

The winners' main strike forward was Ja Fallon whose positioning and assurance on the ball posed constant problems for Australia. It was fitting that the outgoing Footballer of the Year should copperfasten Ireland's win with a last-minute goal. The six points may well be useful in a week's time when the series is decided on aggregate scores.

Although Australia kicked themselves out of contention, the match was nonetheless marked by an impressive display by Ireland's defence. Seamus Moynihan got through a huge amount of covering work and he was well supported by his colleagues, particularly Finbar Cullen with whom he ran the right flank.

The only area of constant concern was in the air. Against opponents who specialise in taking spectacular marks, the backs looked vulnerable. Not that even Australians could foresee the performance of Clive Waterhouse, who emigrated from England as a teenager.

Originally a soccer player, he took up Rules - to what the locals would maintain has been limited success - and yesterday he made a couple of flying catches to end the match with a couple of overs to his name.

As last year, Australian captain Nathan Buckley was the star of the scoring show. Despite not always getting his range right, his ability to kick overs is unmatched by any of his compatriots and quite a few of his opponents.

Ireland also had the advantage of being able to welcome Trevor Giles on board after injury kept him out of last year's series. Covering ground according to the strict rules of his own demanding work ethic, the Meathman also struck a variety of intelligent ball into well-placed colleagues in the danger zone.

The decisive blow was struck in the 45th minute when a good move by the generally impressive Dermot Earley placed Ciaran Whelan on goal and he took the chance of a six-pointer well. This extended Ireland's third-quarter lead to 12 points, 4634, and gave the Australians what turned out to be an impossible target to catch. Ireland gave their hosts every chance by failing to score for 16 minutes of the final quarter, but with Australia unable to take the chances, a thin lead was maintained until the last minute when Ireland took a quick free which enabled Fallon to move in on goal. A quick jink and even Silvagni couldn't keep the ball out of the net.