Man of the match Josh van der Flier said he was delighted that Ireland concluded their Autumn Series with a thrilling 27-24 victory over Australia at the Aviva Stadium.
The Leinster flanker was a late replacement for Seán O’Brien and put in a Man of the match performance in a game of contrasting halves.
Ireland dominated the opening half, with tries from Iain Henderson and Garry Ringrose powering Ireland into a 17-0 lead, before the Aussies hit back on the stroke of half-time.
After the break the visitors were transformed and claimed tries through Tevita Kuridrani and Sefanaia Naivalu as Ireland suffered more injuries to an already depleted backline.
Keith Earls’ try, the sixth of the game, nudged the hosts in front again and they hung on for their third win over Australia in the last four meetings.
Van der Flier admitted that the absorbing contest was a real test of the Irish resolve.
“Australia are a really brilliant team. You saw we had a couple of defensive mistakes and they scored,” he told RTÉ.
“It was a very, very tough game and it was good to get the win after the disappointment of last week.
The young backrower conceded that while he was “delighted” to get the opportunity to start, he was sympathetic towards his provincial team-mate, who was ruled out through injury.
“I was gutted for Seanie, he played unbelievable last week. As always. I was delighted to get to play.”
It marks the first time Ireland have beaten the Southern hemisphere’s ‘Big Three’ – New Zealand, Australia and South Africa - in the one calendar year and Van der Flier said it was important to bounce back from the All Blacks defeat and finish on a positive note.
“It would have been quite disappointing to finish two out of four if we didn’t get the win today. It’s good to finish on a high.”
