Best hails Ireland's character after Australia victory

Ireland captain Rory best has attribtued his side’s stunning 27-24 win over Australia to the character within the squad.

Ireland raced into a 17-0 lead at Aviva Stadium before injuries to Rob Kearney, Andrew Trimble and Jared Payne saw a resfhuffled Ireland backline ship points and slip to 24-20 down, before a late fightback saw a Keith Earls try and Paddy Jackson conversion seal victory to complete a first ever Tri-Nations Grand Slam in Ireland’s history. The fact Ireland were missing Johnny Sexton, Robbie Henshaw and Sean O'Brien through injury made the win - and the manner in which it was achieved - all the more impressive.

Best, winning his 100^th cap for Ireland said: "It's a win we are very, very proud of.

"The manner in which we won against a very good Australian team - it shows the character we have in our squad."

As the Wallabies hordes flooded the Ireland 22 in the second half, Best also revealed how the home support of the crowd spurred Ireland on to lift their game in the final quarter.

"To have a number of changes to the team and then having to make positional changes during the game makes it a win we are very, very happy with," Best said.

"You have to give credit to the Aussies, especially at the start of the second half. There just seemed to be wave after wave of gold and it took a lot of character to dig in.

"It's amazing. We get unbelievable support here and the Irish rugby fans are very, very special to me."

Looking ahead to the Six Nations, Best highlighted England as the team to beat in the coming spring - a team that has gone unbeaten so far this calendar year with just Australia to come at Twickenham next Saturday.

"We are building - we are reasonably happy with where we are, but we will keep building," said Best.

"England are setting a phenomenal pace at the minute and it's up to the rest of the Six Nations to catch up with them.

"We have a lot of young guys who have showed lots of guts and determination. There is a lot of fine tuning to do but that is for another day.

"There is lots of pride for me in the guys who came on. Kieran Marmion came on and played 40 minutes on the wing, while Joey Carbery slotted in very well at full-back."

Photo (©Inpho/Morgan Treacy)

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