No lineout. No aerial game. No hope.
The Wallabies‘ end-of-year tour from hell sunk further in Dublin on Sunday morning [AEDT], with Joe Schmidt’s side hammered 46-19 after a late Irish onslaught.
Australia may have been in the contest down only 19-14 at halftime, but their inability to win the ball in the air – a feature of their entire 2025 Test campaign – and one of the worst nights in recent memory at the lineout, eventually saw them succumb to an Irish team that might not be about to start the slide many have suggested they were poised to.
Whether that is indeed the case will be far more evident for Ireland coach Andy Farrell after next week’s visit by South Africa, but for now they can enjoy a fifth straight triumph over Australia and probably their best performance of the calendar year to date.
“It’s a tough one to take obviously,” Schmidt told Stan Sport at fulltime. “[We were] in the game for the first 60 minutes, we had a lineout just down here in the corner and if we get something out of that we’re within a score with 20 to go and we’re right in the game.
“We really chased the game in the last 10 minutes and sometimes that can get away with you. You’re trying to create opportunity for yourself but you’re a man down and you offer space and opportunity to the opposition, and with a really efficient opposition like the Irish are, that scoreboard got away from us.
“But I honestly believe it’s not because the players stopped working hard, they were still trying, but sometimes when you’re trying too hard and you’re over chasing things, it does become difficult.”
Ireland came armed to Aviva Stadium with the simplest of game plans: to hoist the ball high into the Dublin sky and let Australia beat themselves. And beat themselves the Wallabies did, as they repeatedly spilled Ireland’s kicks, inviting their opponents onto the attack immediately thereafter.
Each of Max Jorgensen, Harry Potter and James O’Connor had a torrid night at the back, with Australian-born Mack Hansen doing exactly as Mack Hansen does, chasing hard and competing all night, as he crossed for three tries in a man-of-the-match performance in his first Test start as fullback.
While it was a typically wet night in Dublin, on some occasions the Wallabies did not even compete in the aerial contest and paid the price as a result, as halves Jamison Gibson-Park and Sam Prendergast pulled the strings of an astute Irish performance.
Still, with 15 minutes to play, Australia remained in the contest at 25-15, with Ireland only having extended their narrow half-time lead by a further six points.
With a lazy Ireland penalty for offside, James O’Connor plugged the corner with a pinpoint kick for a touch. But in a moment that summed up Australia’s insipid lineout showing, replacement hooker Billy Pollard sailed his throw well beyond Jeremy Williams and into the hands of Ireland. The moment was lost and any chance of another stirring Wallabies comeback, like those from Johannesburg and Townsville, with it.
Starting hooker Matt Faessler had earlier also failed to hit his targets, with Australia eventually losing six of their 19 lineouts. That is simply not good enough against any nation in world rugby’s top 10, let alone No. 3-ranked Ireland.
Australia’s lineout had been reasonably strong throughout this season, with the set-piece unit one of the few positives from the recent defeats by England and Italy, but it was nowhere near Test standard in Dublin. And the Wallabies were never going to come out winners because of it. The Wallabies also gave up scrum penalties and free kicks, which allowed Ireland to further put the squeeze on through their aerial game.
Australia had again earlier seen the scoreboard deteriorate inside 10 minutes. As had been the case against the Pumas, All Blacks and Springboks during the Rugby Championship, the Wallabies conceded a hefty early lead, this time 14 points, with Hansen grabbing two of his three tries, both which came from Australian mistakes.
The former Brumbies winger’s second came after Wallabies young gun Jorgensen fumbled the bouncing ball from a fizzing Prendergast punt, a moment that began a tough evening for the former schoolboy star at the back for Australia. Jorgensen has enjoyed some wonderful moments this year, but if he is to make a move to fullback on a more permanent basis there is much work to be done under defensive kick pressure.
Still, the Wallabies were able to get a foothold in the game on 18 minutes after Len Ikitau finished off a sequence of strong surges from close to Ireland’s line, the centre marking his return to the team for the first time this autumn by touching down next to the right upright.
There was enough evidence in that play to suggest that if Australia could find some lineout stability and win at least some ball in the air, they would be capable of testing Ireland. That was supported by Fraser McReight’s try on the stroke of halftime – with Hansen’s third try wedged between — as the Wallabies again used their carries in close to get the Irish defensive line backpedalling.
Australia also had referee Karl Dickson on side, their discipline much better than it had been a week earlier, their attacking clean-out far sharper and accurate than it had been against the Italians.
But the Wallabies failed to reassert themselves after the break, and found no fix for their aerial and lineout deficiencies, which allowed Ireland to dominate possession and territory, with Prendergast’s classy drop-goal and then a penalty goal from his replacement Jack Crowley giving Farrell’s side the scoreboard pressure their dominance of play deserved.
When Caelan Doris crossed for Ireland’s fourth try on 70 minutes after a sustained period of pressure the game was gone for Australia, and while Pollard was able to provide a brief moment of joy with a try of his own, two further Irish five-pointers, the last after the final siren, added the scoreline flattery Ireland’s second-half had deserved.
Nick Frost’s yellow card for a dangerous tackle added insult to injury for Australia, though the lock is unlikely to have to worry about any sort of suspension.
And so at 5-9 for 2025, Australia’s Test season has now deteriorated completely. And with one final trip to Paris to face France to come, the pain is likely not yet over either.
Les Bleus won’t have to look far to find a recipe for success against the Wallabies, with fly-half Romain Ntamack sure to replicate the same aerial raid that gave Australia so much strife in Dublin. Fabian Galthie’s France have long been a team who kick more than any other, with their ability to feast on opposition mistakes a hallmark of their recent successes, which included the 2025 Six Nations.
Just how Australia’s high ball defence could be so bad, when it has been a clear issue for some time now, is unfathomable. Either Australia aren’t putting in enough work on the skill itself, or the players Schmidt is choosing simply aren’t up to the challenge.
“I think a lot of it is you’ve got to get into the contest, and a couple of times they got free catches in behind us and that became very difficult,” Schmidt said of Australia’s aerial woes.
“And sometimes they found good space, particularly in the first half. But that breeze was pretty tough, I think they got two 50/22s and one where Max was going back for it and knocked it on. So giving up those field positions makes it a tough night for the boys.
“So in terms of that, we were hoping to do something similar in the second half. But on the platforms that we got, we just didn’t get the ball consistently; I think they had 10 scrums to three and that again gave them the platform to be able to dictate play.”
