Joe Schmidt responds to Ben Donaldson’s last-gasp penalty miss

Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt will continue to back Ben Donaldson, who missed a difficult penalty attempt in the last play of a heartbreaking 33-31 Nations Championship defeat to Ireland in Sydney.

An 80-minute Test true to its name came down to one final shot at the sticks, as the Wallabies looked to snatch the win in front of a record rugby crowd at Allianz Stadium. The fly-half had missed a kick at the poles about eight minutes earlier, and again would suffer the same fate.

‘Dono’ gave that kick everything and for a moment you could hear a pin drop at the Sydney venue, before cheers and cries from both fans began to echo throughout the stadium. There were even Wallabies players on the sideline who, for a second, appeared to believe the kick was going over.

But the attempt was pushed wide right of the sticks, with Ireland holding on for their sixth straight win against the Wallabies. The Irish had trailed from the 23-minute mark through to the dying stages of the Test, but stepped up with their own heroics when it counted.

It’s an agonising defeat for the Wallabies, but Schmidt and captain Harry Wilson led the messages of support for Donaldson. Dylan Pietsch had run over to Donaldson immediately after the missed penalty attempt, and the Wallabies will continue to get around their teammate.

“He’s got those kicks in him and they weren’t there tonight but we’re going to keep backing those guys,” Schmidt told reporters.

“We missed a couple of kicks early in the game as well so that’s the nature of it. We scored very wide in the very first try of the game so that was a missed kick even then and when it’s only a two-point ball game, they can be costly.

“The players got around Dono straight away.”

Schmidt explained post-game that other things cost the Wallabies, and it wasn’t all down to the missed penalty at the end. The Wallabies coach acknowledged the team has to be better at “taking those because you’ve got to work so hard to get them.”

Pietsch, Jock Campbell, Josh Canham and Ryan Lonergan had touched down for a try each in the first half, as the Wallabies built up a strong lead. But Ireland had the final point-scoring say before the break, with Jamison Gibson-Park finishing off a superb attack.

The two teams traded one try each early in the second term before the 23-minute standoff, with no team able to strike. Gordon, Donaldson and other playmakers were able to get the hosts into regular point-scoring opportunities, on the back of positive attacking rugby.

“I was really proud of the effort. I thought we created a lot of chances for ourselves,” captain Wilson explained.

“I was really proud of our defence. I thought the boys turned up for each other and really wanted to try and win the physical battle and thought we did a good job there.

“It’s just our discipline there, especially in that second half, really hurt us. When you verse a team like Ireland, they definitely make you pay.”