There was a sense of opportunity lost spread across the Australian sports pages this morning. Their three point defeat to Ireland further extended their long wait for a touring Grand Slam, a feat they last achieved in 1984.
“A grand slam would have been there for the taking, with a final clash against Eddie Jones’ England - the team that stole Australia’s thunder in June - at Twickenham on Saturday the only thing standing in the way of the Wallabies and a 32-year grand slam drought,” wrote Tom Decent in his report for the Sydney Morning Herald.
Decent notes the Irish dominance in a first half that ended 17-7 to the hosts, but overlooks the huge injury problems Joe Schmidt’s team encountered thereafter. He says, only for Keith Earls’ second half try this “could have been one of the all-time comebacks given the circumstances.”
Although Ireland were playing with their their third choice outhalf at fullback, and their cover scrumhalf on the wing.
There is though an acceptance that this was a deserved victory - “As valiant as the Wallabies were, Ireland deserved this win for their set-piece was phenomenal, as was their collective work around the breakdown that was greatly appreciated by a passionate crowd at Aviva Stadium.”
In the Daily Telegraph the tone is much the same from Jamie Pandaram. “Ireland played superbly but the Wallabies’ showed tremendous character to lead 24-20 in the 61st minute having trailed 17-0 in the 39th...
“These were some of the most enthralling minutes of rugby seen this year as Australia threw everything at Ireland’s strong defence and but for a number of loose last passes Australia could have stolen victory.”
Meanwhile Christy Foran of Fox Sports backs up the Australian head coach Michael Cheika’s frustration with some of the refereeing decisions.
He claims Bernard Foley was “harshly sent to the sin bin in the dying minutes”. As for Den Mumm’s first half sin-binning - “the incident was a bit unfortunate with his teammate Rob Simmons also involved.”
Meanwhile the copy circulating from the Australian Associated Press made it crystal clear who they felt was to blame for the defeat:
“Despite copping the worst of the French referee Jerome Garces’ whistle, Australia mounted a stirring second-half comeback to recover from trailing 17-0 in the 39th minute to owning the lead 18 minutes later.”
The referee of course.
