Ireland coach Joe Schmidt suffered a heavy first defeat in charge as Australia ran in four tries at the Aviva Stadium tonight.
Winger Nick Cummins and flanker Michael Hooper scored early touchdowns as the Wallabies stormed in to a 15-3 lead. Cooper opened the scoring with a ninth-minute penalty after Ireland's offside offence.
Ireland responded on 12 minutes with Sexton successfully kicking a penalty.
Cooper then missed what looked like a straightforward penalty - but Australia soon ...
Ireland coach Joe Schmidt suffered a heavy first defeat in charge as Australia ran in four tries at the Aviva Stadium tonight. Winger Nick Cummins and flanker Michael Hooper scored early touchdowns as the Wallabies stormed in to a 15-3 lead. Cooper opened the scoring with a ninth-minute penalty after Ireland's offside offence. Ireland responded on 12 minutes with Sexton successfully kicking a penalty. Cooper then missed what looked like a straightforward penalty - but Australia soon scored their first try through Cummins in the 17th minute. The left wing cut in to expose weakness in the Irish defence after a midfield break from hooker Stephen Moore. The Irish line was breached again on 24 minutes as Hooper accepted Scott Fardy's back-handed offload for an easy run-in. Cooper's miss from the conversion was of little comfort to a clearly stunned Irish side. Schmidt's team did chip away at the deficit through Sexton's penalties, and openside Hooper was binned for not rolling away, but the reality was Ireland rarely threatened the Australian line despite their extra man advantage. Jonny Sexton pegged it back to 15-12 with three penalties but then had to go off with a hamstring injury on the half time whistle and was replaced by Ian Madigan. Cooper scored the third Australian try six minutes after the restart as confusion between Luke Marshall and replacement fly-half Madigan gifted the Aussie number 10 the gap. A Cooper penalty extended the visitors' lead to 25-15 with Madigan claiming three back with a penalty. Hooper scored his second try as Australia barged over after a line-out with Cooper's conversion making it 32-15. With just eight minutes remaining, Aussie centre Tevita Kuridrani received a straight red card for a dangerous tackle on Peter O'Mahony. This opened up play slightly but the Irish side were unable to capitalise on a late Sean Cronin try, which was judged to be knocked on by Conor Murray. Ireland's narrow defence allowed Australia to grab early control and, although the deficit was reduced to three for a while, Australia claimed a comprehensive 32-15 victory in Dublin. Schmidt's side will have plenty to work on before meeting his native New Zealand in Dublin next weekend.
Ireland coach Joe Schmidt suffered a heavy first defeat in charge as Australia ran in four tries at the Aviva Stadium tonight. Winger Nick Cummins and flanker Michael Hooper scored early touchdowns as the Wallabies stormed in to a 15-3 lead. Cooper opened the scoring with a ninth-minute penalty after Ireland's offside offence. Ireland responded on 12 minutes with Sexton successfully kicking a penalty. Cooper then missed what looked like a straightforward penalty - but Australia soon scored their first try through Cummins in the 17th minute. The left wing cut in to expose weakness in the Irish defence after a midfield break from hooker Stephen Moore. The Irish line was breached again on 24 minutes as Hooper accepted Scott Fardy's back-handed offload for an easy run-in. Cooper's miss from the conversion was of little comfort to a clearly stunned Irish side. Schmidt's team did chip away at the deficit through Sexton's penalties, and openside Hooper was binned for not rolling away, but the reality was Ireland rarely threatened the Australian line despite their extra man advantage. Jonny Sexton pegged it back to 15-12 with three penalties but then had to go off with a hamstring injury on the half time whistle and was replaced by Ian Madigan. Cooper scored the third Australian try six minutes after the restart as confusion between Luke Marshall and replacement fly-half Madigan gifted the Aussie number 10 the gap. A Cooper penalty extended the visitors' lead to 25-15 with Madigan claiming three back with a penalty. Hooper scored his second try as Australia barged over after a line-out with Cooper's conversion making it 32-15. With just eight minutes remaining, Aussie centre Tevita Kuridrani received a straight red card for a dangerous tackle on Peter O'Mahony. This opened up play slightly but the Irish side were unable to capitalise on a late Sean Cronin try, which was judged to be knocked on by Conor Murray. Ireland's narrow defence allowed Australia to grab early control and, although the deficit was reduced to three for a while, Australia claimed a comprehensive 32-15 victory in Dublin. Schmidt's side will have plenty to work on before meeting his native New Zealand in Dublin next weekend.