JERRY FLANNERY sported the usual facial discolorations, a testament to the physicality of yesterday’s encounter at Croke Park. But it was an injury that was less obvious to the eye which had caused him a great deal more anxiety.

On Friday morning the calf muscle injury that had limited him to one game this season, one match in roughly six months, locked up at training. He’s been incredible attentive in his rehabilitation just to get himself to this point and now the opportunity looked like being snatched away at the last moment. Having quashed the initial feeling of panic he placed himself in the care of the Irish medical team.

For Flannery, pain was never going to be an issue in preventing him from playing, but he wouldn’t risk letting his team-mates down, even though he was desperate to play.

“My calf tightened up when I went to train on the Friday. Coming back I had an awful lot of work done on it: going from zero to an awful lot of work, it just tightened up. It was a case of having faith in the medical staff and it was fine in the end. I got a shock when it happened. When we trained on the Wednesday I had done some fitness work just to try and get a blow out for my lungs. I was really pleased with how it went. I went home and relaxed on Thursday and then when I trained on the Friday it just locked up.

“If my calf hadn’t locked up on Friday it was still always going to be a hard situation because it is only the second game I have started in six months. It was always going to be sore (so that wasn’t the issue),” he said.

“It was brilliant; I was delighted to get back and to get through the game with nothing falling off. I feel a bit sore now but I’m grand. During the game you just suck it up.”

Australian coach Robbie Deans had earlier suggested that “Ireland got away with a draw”. It wasn’t a view to which Flannery subscribed: “To come away without losing the game is one thing, but I think we could have pressed on and been a bit more clinical. I don’t think ‘we escaped with a draw’, I think we could have pushed on with possession and put more points on the board.”

He was able to offer an insight into why Ireland periodically struggled in the scrums – probably three over the 80 minutes – but once again railed at the assertion that they had been given a torrid time in this facet of play. “Yeah, we probably got a little loose. I think Cian (Healy) and John (Hayes) started well but I think maybe we got a little slack in that middle part when we gave away two penalties. I think John’s penalty was a little harsh; it’s a work in progress.

“They’re (the Aussies) as good as a scrummaging unit as I’ve seen. Maybe it didn’t go perfect but we’ve enough to work on. I wouldn’t say it was equal but they’ve worked very hard. I was impressed with (Benn) Robinson in the (pre-match) analysis.

“Stephen Moore is very powerful but we weren’t given a torrid time. Same as the lineout, we won’t have everything perfect. The lineout could be sharper, not everything is going to be 100 per cent when you start. You have to adapt and we spoke about making mistakes and adapting to that.”

Flannery spoke warmly about his fellow frontrow soldier Healy on what was an impressive debut for the 22-year-old. “Cian did pretty well. He made a great run there, very powerful, great attitude and he’s great to play with. I thought about not having Marcus during the national anthem. Marcus and John have been playing so long, there needs to be depth.

“Cian is young and he’s come through quickly and it’s fair to say there aren’t a load of props coming through. He got stuck in. He’s not a shy fellow; he didn’t seem to be fazed. He was sitting beside me in the dressing-room with his music on, bouncing around. It’s good to see that . . . there is no fear in him.” Ireland’s fullback Rob Kearney was another to single out the young prop.

“I thought he was awesome, he was really, really good. I was just delighted for him. He was buzzing around the place all week, like a kid at Christmas so it was good for him to get that and hopefully he’s in there now for the long the run.”

Kearney wasn’t sporting too many bruises but he was on the receiving end of one massive collision that saw Australian number eight Wycliff Palu harshly – Kearney made that point – sent to the sin bin.

“What was I thinking? I tried to pick the small guy. I couldn’t see him. Yeah I was in a dark place for a while after it. I was dizzy and thankfully half time came quick after it so I could gather myself again.

“It was probably an unfair yellow card on him but it came our way which is good. There was no question of me coming off from my perspective, maybe from the medics.

“Obviously it’s brilliant that we’re not beaten – we’re still a year without losing here at Croke Park – but at the same time you feel that we left it out there behind us. We could have beaten them, we left opportunities out there.”