Ireland edge past Wallabies in thrilling encounter

A 66th minute try from Keith Earls earned Ireland a hard-fought 27-24 win over Australia in the final November international at the Aviva Stadium.

The hosts produced an outstanding first half display to race into a 17-0 lead courtesy of tries from Iain Henderson and Garry Ringrose.

Paddy Jackson's boot was in good working order as he filled in for the injured Jonathan Sexton and he added the extras for both tries, along with a crisp penalty, to give Ireland the advantage their dominance deserved.

Indeed Joe Schmidt's side should arguably have been further ahead, three times spurning kickable penalties as they backed themselves to get tries from the lineout and resulting mauls.

Australia hung in there and their chances of fighting their way back into the game increased as three experienced players - Rob Kearney, Andrew Trimble and Jared Payne were forced off the pitch through injury in the first half.

As a result Ireland's backline began to take on a makeshift look with scrum-half Kieran Marmion slotting in on the wing, out-half Joe Carberry playing at full back and Earls moving from the wing to partner Ringrose in the centre, replacement Simon Zebo having entered the field to take Earls' place on the wing.

The Wallabies finally produced some attacking moves of their own as the first period drew to a close and seconds before the break Dane Haylett-Petty crossed under the posts for their first score, Bernard Foley sending over the conversion to make it 17-7 as the players went back to the changing rooms.

Michael Cheika's men were a side transformed in the second half and they quickly drew closer on the scoreboard when Tevita Kuridrani took advantage of space at wide to grab the visitors' second try.

Foley's conversion made it a three-point game before Jackson knocked over a second penalty to extend Ireland's lead to six.

Peter O'Mahony's introduction steadied the Irish ship a little but Australia were winning the collisions now and they took the lead when Foley converted replacement Sefanaia Naivalu's try, a score which finished off a nice passing move.

Foley sent over a penalty from close range shortly after to make it 24-20 to the away team and the toll of four games in four weeks looked like it was exacting a heavy toll on Ireland.

But they dug deep and began to dominate up front again, and after some fine work from Tadhg Furlong, CJ Stander and O'Mahony, the ball eventually went wide with Zebo feeding Earls to stroll over the line for a crucial try.

Jackson edged Ireland 27-24 with a fabulous conversion from the touchline and they managed the remainder of the match expertly, with the likes of man-of-the-match Josh van der Flier produced some more fine work.

Foley was sin-binned late for a dangerous tackle on Devin Toner and the final whistle brought huge roars of celebration from the packed crowd as they witnessed Ireland cap off a great six months with their third victory over a southern hemisphere since June.

Photo (©Inpho/Dan Sheridan)

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