by Tadhg Peavoy
Ireland met Australia in Pool A of the 2003 Rugby World Cup. The match was a decider for the pool, as both sides had beaten Argentina, Romania and Namibia and lay joint top, heading into the clash.
History tells us that Australia came out 17-16 winners in the Telstra Dome, Melbourne, and that they went on to contest the tournament’s final with England, only to lose 20-17.
By winning the group, the Aussies drew Scotland in the quarters; Ireland had the much trickier task of playing France - a game they lost 43-21.
There are four survivors from the 2003 Ireland squad to face Australia in RWC 2011: Paul O’Connell, Ronan O’Gara and Brian O’Driscoll were in the starting XV in 2003, while Donncha O’Callaghan was on the bench.
There are no Aussies from the 2003 squad in line to play Ireland this Saturday.
It was the Wallabies who drew first blood after nine minutes of action in Melbourne. After five phases of possession, Australia barged their way into the Ireland 22 and scrum-half George Gregan landed a drop-goal from the back of a ruck, out-half Stephen Larkham playing temporary scrum-half for the pass.
Things got worse for Ireland. From a scrum just outside the Ireland 22, David Lyons picked from the base and drove forward some hard yards. Larkham was then fed and he kicked a high ball to Ireland’s right corner.
A Matt Burke tap back allowed Wendell Sailor to claim and drive for the line. The winger drew in three tacklers to prevent him scoring a try. Ireland re-grouped and withstood two more charges at their line.
Paul O'Connell and George Gregan
However, the defensive effort took its toll and when Australia spun wide left, Ireland were outnumbered with a three-man overlap. An out of position Shane Horgan allowed flanker George Smith to canter over for a try. Centre Elton Flatley hit the right post with the conversion.
Ireland needed a score and got one, O’Driscoll took the ball into contact on the Aussie 22 and the Wallabies infringed at the breakdown, giving away their first penalty of the tie. O’Gara made no mistake with the place kick to narrow the gap to 8-3.
However, just over 16 minutes in, Ireland slowed the ball down at ruck time on the ten-metre line. Flatley stepped up from 45 metres and banged the penalty over.
Ireland dominated proceedings for the next six minutes or so with O’Gara’s kicks to the corner, allied to forward drives punching holes in the Aussie defence, putting Ireland in control. A collapsed maul handed Ireland a penalty, but O’Gara pushed the effort wide of the post.
Flatley had the next scoring chance, with a questionable penalty inside the Ireland ten-metre line, following deliberate obstruction from a maul. But, the Aussie also pushed his penalty effort wide.
Ireland dominate before half-time
Ireland were dominating all over the pitch and won a penalty when Brendan Cannon failed to roll away from a ruck. O’Gara took this second invitation and bisected the posts on 33 minutes to make it 11-6.
It was to stay that score until half-time, but the major talking point was Mat Rogers and Shane Horgan both being sin-binned prior to the interval. Rogers was binned for slowing the ball at the ruck, which was at this stage a repeated Aussie offence. Horgan went to the bin for kneeing Rogers in the head.
Another missed penalty from Flatley let Ireland off the hook just after the break as the centre undercooked the power of his effort on goal.
However, John Hayes came in the side of a ruck moments later and this time Flatley calmly slotted over from in front of the sticks.
At 14-6, Australia were beginning to create daylight between the sides. Ben Darwin failed to roll away at a ruck, which allowed O’Gara the chance to pull Ireland back. O’Gara’s kicking display was turning into a nightmare at this stage and he pushed the effort to the right of the posts on 51 minutes.
The miss galvanised Ireland and they came again with wave after wave of attack; it paid off. From a ruck in the Aussie 22, Stringer spun wide to John Kelly, who found O’Driscoll.
In the tightest of spaces, the Ireland talisman evaded Flatley and Sailor to squeeze over in the corner, scoring one of his greatest Ireland tries. O’Gara atoned for his earlier misses to make it three from six kicks on the night and put Ireland 14-13 behind.
Australia stormed the Ireland defence for the following five minutes and when O’Gara was caught offside, Flatley added an easy penalty to give the Aussies what was to be a crucial extra three points.
O'Driscoll scores
Ireland pushed hard for more scores and a kick to the corner for Horgan came close, but the Meath man was forced into a knock-on in the try area.
Keith Wood and Keith Gleeson were both stopped short of the line as Ireland went hammer and tongs at Australia. But there was no way through the Wallabies excellent defensive structure.
Ireland couldn’t break the yellow wall and O’Driscoll took it upon himself to step into the pocket and pop over a rickety drop goal to narrow the gap to just one point with 12 minutes remaining.
Ultimately, it was to be heartbreak for Ireland.
Substitute outhalf David Humphreys’ attempted drop goal drifted wide right on 75 minutes and with it went the match as the Irish could not gain the field position to have a further attempt.
A hugely entertaining and high tempo game went the Aussies’ way. Ireland dominated possession (53%) and territory (55%), but couldn’t provide enough killers punches to halt the Wallabies skip.
The performance defined Ireland under Eddie O’Sullivan: multi-phase retention; superb loose-ball carriers in the shape of Wood, O’Connell and Anthony Foley; along with a bleached-blonde O’Driscoll terrorising the defence with fierce lines of running and offloading.
But, at the end of it all, the inability to claim crucial scores prevented Ireland from taking their place among world rugby’s elite.
O’Sullivan succinctly summed the game up, saying: “We’re a pretty devastated team at the moment. I thought in the second half we played all the rugby, really, and we deserved to win that game. A couple of key decisions went against us at the end.
“I was very proud of what we achived today. We played the world champions in their backyard and took the game to them every yard of the way. And, I thought if there was any justice, we were going to pull that one off. But it wasn’t to be.”
