Four-try win for Wallabies

The Wallabies built on the momentum accrued last week in Turin by beating a disappointing Irish side 32-15 at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Saturday.

With many expecting a much closer scoreline than the one recorded, the visiting outfit will undoubtedly be delighted with their four-try win.

This sets them up nicely for remaining fixtures against Scotland and Wales, with head coach Ewen McKenzie's plans seemingly bearing fruit.

Ireland meanwhile will not look forward to their Monday video session as the Wallabies' wide game hurt the home side dearly in the first-half.

Joe Schmidt will have a whole host of questions at that meeting and should ask his side about their defensive frailties as tries for Nick Cummins, Michael Hooper (one of his two) and Quade Cooper left a lot to be desired from an Irish point of view.  If they don't right those wrongs then the All Blacks should have little issue making it 14 wins.

The first for the Wallaby wing came in the seventeenth minute via slick hands that led to hooker Stephen Moore slipping a tackle before he found the Western Force finisher hitting a nice angle to go in under the posts.  Cooper's easy conversion put Australia 10-3 up.

Ireland did not learn from their mistake though of being slack in the defensive line and when Scott Fardy put Hooper over to take Australia 15-6 up, the hosts could only be thankful that Cooper was enduring an off spell with the boot.  Everything else he touched turned to gold.

Schmidt's outfit did finally find some form from then until the break as Sean O'Brien's power led the charge en route to two more Sexton penalty goals.  And because of those strikes, the head coach would have been warmed that Ireland were just three points down at 12-15.

Sexton did not return to the fray after the break due to a hamstring injury as Ian Madigan, selected ahead of Paddy Jackson because of his versatility, was handed a chance to shine.

The Wallabies didn't have to wait long for their third try as Cooper produced an individual moment of magic, feinting to pass before stepping inside some weak 10-12 defence to touch down for a converted score that made it 22-12 at a silent Aviva Stadium.

Cooper, rewarded by head coach McKenzie for his change in attitude by being named vice-captain for the tour, then added a penalty from long range to leave Ireland in danger of a real hammering as the Wallabies led 25-12 with half-an-hour remaining in Dublin.

Madigan landed a penalty shortly before the hour to just about keep the Irish in touch at 25-15 but the hosts were lacking any sort of spark or inspiration to suggest they may recover.

The Irish eschewed the possibility of a relatively easy three points to go for touch with 20 minutes remaining but it went to waste as the Australians once again forced a turnover.

The clincial Wallabies added a fourth try through openside flanker Hooper after the Australian pack pushed the Irish back over their line, Cooper adding the kick for 32-15.

The visitors' superb day ended on a sour note when Tevita Kuridrani speartackled Peter O'Mahony and Pollock wielded the red card after consulting the television match official.

Man of the match:  Australia seem to be clicking on this end-of-year tour after the initial loss to England and Michael Hooper is a major part of that.  He edges this award from the always threatening Israel Folau because of the openside flank's hard graft and two scores.

Moment of the match:  The second-half score for Quade Cooper summed up the Ireland defence as the fly-half slipped through a gap that shouldn't have been there.  Work needed.

Villain of the match:  The lift-tackle on Peter O'Mahony was not good from Tevita Kuridrani.  Ben Mowen's reaction to the red card summed up the feeling.  Silly move from the centre.

The scorers:

For Ireland:
Pen:  Sexton 4, Madigan

For Australia:
Tries:  Cummins, Hooper 2, Cooper
Con:  Cooper 3
Pen:  Cooper 2
Yellow card:  Hooper (32 mins)
Red card:  Kuridrani

Ireland:  15 Rob Kearney, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Brian O'Driscoll, 12 Luke Marshall, 11 Fergus McFadden, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Eoin Reddan, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Sean O'Brien, 6 Peter O'Mahony, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Devin Toner, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Rory Best, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements:  16 Sean Cronin, 17 Jack McGrath, 18 Stephen Archer, 19 Mike McCarthy, 20 Kevin McLaughlin, 21 Conor Murray, 22 Ian Madigan, 23 Robbie Henshaw.

Australia:  15 Israel Folau, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Matt Toomua, 11 Nick Cummins, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 Ben Mowen (capt), 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Scott Fardy, 5 James Horwill, 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 James Slipper.
Replacements:  16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 Benn Robinson, 18 Paddy Ryan, 19 Sitaleki Timani, 20 Liam Gill, 21 Nic White, 22 Christian Leali'ifano, 23 Joe Tomane.

Referee:  Chris Pollock (New Zealand)
Assistant referees:  Romain Poite (France), Stuart Berry (South Africa)
Television match official:  Geoff Warren (England)
Assessor:  Tappe Henning (South Africa)