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Rugby World Cup

'AUSTRALIA LOOK UTTERLY SHELL-SHOCKED'
How Scott Murray reported the game on guardian.co.uk
10 min Aus 3-0 Ire After a few phases of battering away at Ireland's last-ditch defence, there's a scrum, and Ireland collapse it. James O'Connor strokes the penalty over from in front of the posts 16 min Aus 3-3 Ire Rob Kearney's ,-y presence panics the Wallabies into conceding a penalty on their own 22. Jonathan Sexton makes no mistake, hitting a low, flat kick between the sticks

18 min Aus 3-6 ire The restart is claimed, and green shirts drive down the field. They set themselves just inside the Aussie 22 on the left. The ball's flung back to Sexton, who clips over a delicious drop goal

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AUSTRALIA IRELAND
Brendan Fanning Eden Park Relief is hardly the emotion you would expect to present itself first when Ireland manage to overturn the Wallabies in a World Cup, but that is what it was like in the Irish camp. Or rather it will be this morning for, having been presented with a golden opportunity to make history, they would have had one foot on the plane home if they had not taken it. But on a rainy night in Auckland they did just that. And the effect on their morale, after a dismal Six Nations, a woeful August, and a poor opener against the US, will be enormous. History has shown us that Ireland come second in these games, but for the first time in five World Cup meetings against the tournament specialists they have come first. At half-time the scores were level and you suspected Jonny Sexton's troubles with the placed ball might undo the underdogs, who had been given a leg up with the withdrawal first of the flanker David Pocock, and then the hooker, Stephen Moore. The arrival of Ronan O'Gara in the third quarter made a huge difference. As did Conor Murray, who came on soon after to partner him. The win opens the door for Ireland to avoid southern-hemisphere opposition in the quarter-finals if they can overcome Russia and Italy. The effect on the Australians is exactly the opposite, however, which forces their coach, Robbie Deans, into a corner he probably never saw coming. A combination of a few factors led to exactly that: Ireland blitzed the Wallabies at the breakdown, which was the building block for the win; and the scrum was terrific. Ireland had planned for Pocock and to have him removed was a huge bonus. So, too, Moore, for his replacement Tatafu Polota-Nau threw two balls crooked to the lineout, and another clean over the top. They missed Moore as much at the IS of them game changers. With rain falling intermittently during the day and then spilling down for much of the second half, the scrum count was always going to be high. At 21, it was. And that is only the completed ones. Ireland got great energy from their superiority here with the man of the match, Cian Healy, and the tighthead, Mike Ross, doing a huge job between them. Meanwhile, the quality of the tackling and ball carrying was first class. Sean O'Brien must have been desperately close to Healy for that man of the match award, with Paul O'Connell and Stephen Ferris not far behind. For the first time in a long time Ireland defended with extraordinary aggression right on the gainline, limiting the attacking opportunities for Will Genia and Quade Cooper. Genia was a threat to the last but the Wallabies could not get enough quality ball to do damage. They got it wrong tactically as well, sending centre Pat McCabe into traffic. He was choketackled twice in the first half-hour for Irish turnovers - which gave enormous psychological energy to Ireland - and then Genia suffered the same fate later in the game. All of that would make you think that Ireland should have won pulling up. In
On target: Ireland's experienced fly-half, Ronan O'Gara, took his side's penalties after Jonny Sexton's failures earlier in the game

a way they did in so far as the Wallabies were two scores off the pace when the endgame got underway. What kept them in the contest though was Ireland's struggle to take their points. James O'Connor was not flawless either - he got two from four - but Sexton was clearly off his rhythm, missing badly before hitting the target, and even his drop goal off an advantage play to give Ireland the lead on 18 minutes seemed uncomfortable. O'Connor tied it up on 24 minutes but when Sekope Kepu was done at a scrum
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