Ireland prop Jack McGrath said that surviving the fraught final quarter to hang on for a series win in Australia showed how far the Irish team has come.
McGrath, who was making his 50th cap and was called ashore in the second half, said it was amazing to watch the final 20 minutes as Ireland found the strength to repel wave after wave of Australian attacks.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport's Michael Corcoran, McGrath said that Ireland may have been slightly lucky on occasion but had shown great belief to grind out the victory.
"It was amazing to watch the last 20 minutes. It just shows how far this group has come. The belief that's now here to able to grind it out, I suppose.
"We were under the cosh for the last 20 minutes and to be able to fight back and cause them to make a few mistakes.
"We are a bit lucky in some things but you get the bounce of the ball sometimes. It is incredible to be involved in a squad like this and it's a great place to be at the moment."
The First Test defeat in Brisbane is now Ireland's only loss in the past 14 months and McGrath believed that the defensive frailties evident in the 18-9 loss were corrected over the subsequent games.
"With Australia, the pace they're running onto the ball it's very hard to stop them on the gain line. All credit to them.They brought their 'A' game.
"Our defence in the First Test probably let us down. And we built into it a little in the next two games and I thought we put them under pressure. There's obviously things that we're going to have to work on and we'll worry about them down the line.
"But for now, I thought we made the right decisions at the right times and it went our way."
