New Zealand v France should be a very entertaining game after todays result.
It’ll be interesting to watch two teams trying to throw the same game.
You have to admire the genuine passion, knowledge and humour of Meddy and Frenno as opposed to the rent a quote bullshit of the jumped up caterer on the national broadcaster.
As an aside the Aussie hooker gave one of the worst performances I’ve ever seen from an international.
Wonderful stuff. Great to see Brian O’Driscoill acknowledge the genuine fans who kept the faith when the critics were in full flight for the last month. Well done guys 
Mattie trotting out his interesting drought line again.
I’m physically and emotionally shattered but sitting contentedly wrapped in my tricolour*. Very proud of our boys.
- One of my favourite 30th birthday presents.
Happy birthday Bandage
To Declan Kidney 
To Les Kiss
To Gert Smal
To Alan Gaffney
To the island of Ireland
Even got a mention in for the sponsors, what a goy.
Happy birthday mate.
Ronan O’Gara is crying in this interview. Wonderful.
Fuck you Morag Stewart!
Fair play to Franno for being the first to call this as the end of the recession.
I must have been the only Irish person in the world who shouted “Tackle him!” when Bowe intercepted the ball.
I also was delighted with Murray’s try being disallowed. I was hoping for a late Australian consolation try.
Also delighted with the lack of yellow card for Kearney in the first half for his shocking high tackle on Eastender Ian Beale.
Some performance though. Defence wins championships.
Those of you who have watched a lot of tri nations will have seen Australia rip teams to shreds on counter attack.
They turn the ball over, find a defence out of position and carve them up.
The key to this is turning the ball over. Without Pocock they were immediately blunted.
My brother had tickets for the quarter final based on Ireland being runners up. At the England game in the Aviva it looked like we’d be lucky to make a quarter final. He now has a different problem assuming they don’t lose the run of themselves in the last 2 games.
The whole side of the draw stuff make things very interesting in games.
Will anyone have the balls to obviously throw a game to take an easier path to the final?
Nice scenes there at the end of the Setanta coverage of the Irish dressing room as the players came in.
The Aussies are now comparing us to Canada. They are a pathetic bunch for analysising sport, they don’t seem to know we hammered England in our last competitive game before the WC and won the 6N just before that, they talk about us like we’re a qualifier team…
Possibly a 6 Nations route to the final…other than Russia of course.
Canada? Explain that to me…
Like I hinted at above, the frogs and the keewees will be firing the ball at each other and leaving huge gaps in their defences to get on Irelands side of the draw.
Murray’s try? Why disallowed?
Sensational performance.
All started with the defence. Perfect combination of discipline and fury. The tactics with the mauls were spot on, the organisation was excellent and the communication was terrific but that would have been useless without the bodies on the line. O’Brien, Ferris and Healy probably showcased that more than anyone but there was nobody who didn’t stand up to the mark defensively. Ireland bullied them off the ball repeatedly.
Even Earls was in their face anytime it went wide, Reddan made some great tackles, Not a bad performer on the day.
Kearney: Missed an early bomb with a casual attitude but that was an error, rather than an indication of his headspace. Redeemed himself almost immediately with an inspirational catch in the Australian half and from then on he was rock solid. His kicking started averagely but improved and his defence, like everyone else’s was flawless.
Bowe: A performance typified by winning the restart after Sexton’s first score and making positive ground. Limited chances to carry the ball in broken field but he was a recurring influence in the passages of play when Ireland did get on top. His interception late on undoubtedly sealed the victory.
O’Driscoll: Les Kiss will be rightly praised for the Irish defensive system and Brian O’Driscoll is his on-field general. He was a constant menace in the face of the Australian backline when they tried to shift it wide, and despite hanging off one or two tackles he put in a handful of shuddering hits.
D’Arcy: Came into the match under a cloud concerning his form but he showed no hesitancy or lethargy in his time on the field. A key component of the shutdown imposed on the Australian threequarters and while he wasn’t explosive with the ball in hand he crucially kept errors to the minimum.
Earls: Obviously not the biggest back in world rugby but he was perfect positionally in his defence - rushing up for man and ball tackles instead of allowing his opponent to build up momentum. Sharp and quickfooted with the sparse attacking ball that came his way.
Sexton: Shackled Cooper from the start, with the help of his backrow, and forced the Australian playmaker into a wider and riskier game than he wanted to play. Varied his game well with a couple of runs from deep catching the opposition on the back foot. His garryowens were a constant threat. Needs to sort out his placekicking.
Reddan: This was easily his best performance in an Irish shirt. He was consistently quick in clearing the ball from rucks and decisive in every involvement. Heroic in defence where he marked Genia very well and tidied up some very dangerous loose ball. A performance that wholly vindicated his selection.
Heaslip: The number eight was certainly the quietest of the Irish back row, but there were signs that his form is returning. He was unspectacular in his ball-carrying and solid but not outstanding in his tackling. Executed the basics well, his patience and control from the base of the scrums was excellent. One silly penalty marred his contribution.
O’Brien: The performance that Ireland hoped for. A wonderfully dynamic effort with the ball in hand - felling a succession of tacklers who lined up to knock him off his stride. His tackling was wonderful, both in its volume and its impact.
Ferris: The moment that summed up the Irish performance was Ferris driving Genia into his own 22 on the stroke of half0time. He completely outplayed Elsom but managed to find time to outshine plenty of other Australians too. As ever his hits were earth-shattering.
O’Connell: Carried very well repeatedly and put in an extraordinary number of tackles. An astonishing level of involvement for a second row, he was a huge factor throughout.
O’Callaghan: Another huge performer in the pack. Spoiled Australia’s efforts to recycle quickly with an aggressive rucking performance. And managed to combine that intensive aggression with exemplary discipline.
Ross: Actually made a few rare contributions in the loose, including one near-miss for a try but this was all about a flawless scrummaging performance that laid the foundation for everything else. Gave everything asked of him and more.
Best: Answered all the critics with a wonderful display. Did almost everything perfectly, abrasive and annoying at rucks, big carries with the ball, a series of terrific tackles.
Healy: A deserved man of the match. Completely on top at scrums and despite the effort put in there he was his usual effective self around the park.
O’Gara came on and played well, except for one garryowen. Murray looked far more impressive behind a dominant pack than he had done last week.