Australia smash Ireland in Perth

Irish tourists run out of steam

Australia continued their impressive mid-year form when they smashed Ireland, recording a 37-15 win in their one-off Test at the Subiaco Oval in Perth on Saturday.  The Wallabies outscored the Irish by five tries to two and were in command of the game for all but 10 minutes.

This impressive victory follow after their 34-3 and 43-18 hammerings of England and sends a message of intent to Australia's Tri-Nations opponents.

Last year's horrors are but a distance memory for the current crop of Wallabies.  They are in ominous form and appear to have improved every facet of their game, from George Gregan's pass to their scrummaging technique.

As for Ireland, they return home for a well-earned rest -- and a chance to figure out how to drive the nails home once they've coaxed their foe into a coffin.

As per usual, the Irish showed more heart than a gift shop in early February and briefly led 15-11 after two tries in the third quarter of the game.

But like the television schedule on Christmas Day, there was a creeping inevitability about what would follow -- heroic Ireland, full of huff and puff and ambitious endeavour, simply ran out of steam and succumbed to a series of well-taken tries.  It was like watching a repeat.

But Ireland gave Australia the test England never mustered in a thrilling game that went the way of the Wallabies in the final 20 minutes.

Australia opened their account with a 13th-minute penalty from Stirling Mortlock and then Chris Latham finished off a superb unbroken spell of play when he converted a left-wing overlap in the corner to make it 8-0, Mortlock missing the conversion.

The Wallabies lost Mat Rogers on 31 minutes with an ankle injury before Ronan O'Gara and Mortlock exchanged penalties to make it 11-3 at the break.

Ireland seemed invigorated by the rest and fly-half O'Gara, criticised for a poor missed tackle in the second test defeat by the All Blacks last week, set up and scored Ireland's opener.

O'Gara's crossfield kick was collected by Shane Horgan, who fed inside to David Wallace.  Wallace found O'Gara who fell over the line for the try.

The Munster pivot missed the conversion but eight minutes later Ireland took the lead with a superlative try from Neil Best.

Best, the only member of Ireland's pack not from Munster's front eight, touched down after a fabulous break from Andrew Trimble to make it 15-11.

The Australians battled back with verve, Mark Gerrard restoring the lead when his nice dummy-pass fooled John Hayes and he touched down under the posts, Mortlock's boot making it 18-15.

Then giant prop Greg Holmes collected a loose ball on the halfway line and sprinted clear to score under the posts, Mortlock making no mistake with the conversion to make it 25-15.

Skipper George Gregan got the try he and the Australian pressure deserved on 69 minutes when he collected George Smith's pass and rode two tackles to cross.

Cameron Shepherd scored his first test try before his home crowd after a delightful pass from Stephen Larkham before Mortlock completed the scoring.

Man of the Match:  Paul O'Connell, Andrew Trimble and Denis Leamy were the pick of tourists, with Gordon D'Arcy and Ronan O'Gara also mentioned in dispatched.  All Australia's senior men showed their class with the likes of George Gregan, Lote Tuqiri, Mark Gerrard and Stephen Larkham to the fore, but our man of the match is Rocky Elsom who did all that was required of him and a great deal more.

Moment of the Match:  It was nice to see Ireland fly-half Ronan O'Gara answer his critics with a well-worked try, but who will ever forget Greg Holmes's mad dash for the line?  A marvelous impression of the piper's chubby son -- he stole the ball and away did run.

Villain of the match:  No award for this encounter -- it was all good, clean fun.

The scorers:

For Australia:
Tries:  Latham, Gerrard, Holmes, Gregan, Shepherd
Cons:  Mortlock 3
Pens:  Mortlock 2

For Ireland:
Tries:  O'Gara, Best
Con:  O'Gara
Pen:  O'Gara

The teams:

Australia:  15 Chris Latham, 14 Mark Gerrard, 13 Stirling Mortlock, 12 Mat Rogers, 11 Lote Tuqiri, 10 Stephen Larkham, 9 George Gregan (captain), 8 Rocky Elsom, 7 George Smith, 6 Mark Chisholm, 5 Dan Vickerman (vice-captain), 4 Nathan Sharpe, 3 Guy Shepherdson, 2 Tai McIsaac, 1 Greg Holmes.
Replacements:  16 Jeremy Paul, 17 Al Baxter, 18 Wycliff Palu, 19 Phil Waugh, 20 Sam Cordingley, 21 Clyde Rathbone, 22 Cameron Shepherd.

Ireland:  15 Girvan Dempsey, 14 Shane Horgan, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (captain), 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Andrew Trimble, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Peter Stringer, 8 Denis Leamy, 7 David Wallace, 6 Neil Best, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 John Hayes, 2 Jerry Flannery, 1 Marcus Horan.
Replacements:  16 Rory Best, 17 Bryan Young, 18 Mick O'Driscoll, 19 Keith Gleeson, 20 Isaac Boss, 21 Jeremy Staunton, 22 Geordan Murphy.

Referee:  Kelvin Deaker (New Zealand)
Touch judges:  Steve Walsh, Bryce Lawrence (both New Zealand)
Television match official:  Lyndon Bray (New Zealand)
Assessor:  Dick Byres (Australia)