Schmidt on Ireland loss: ‘Relatively confident that we could get back’

When Fraser McReight crashed over for a try just before half-time, the Wallabies maintained the belief they could challenge Ireland for a Quilter Nations Series win. It was a five-point game at the break, but the Irish powered to a historic 46-19 triumph at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium.

Australia-born Mack Hansen stole the show during the first half hour with a stunning hat-trick, which had Ireland in the box seat. With the visitors hitting back through Len Ikitau and McReight, it was game on going into the second 40.

It was a tense start to the second stanza as both teams searched for pivotal points, before fly-half Sam Prendergast converted a penalty. That proved to be a turning point, with replacement Jack Crowley adding a penalty six minutes later.

Caelan Doris, Ryan Baird and Robbie Henshaw scored one try each as Ireland ran away with their highest-ever score against Australia. It’s also the Wallabies’ seventh defeat from their last nine Test matches.

As coach Joe Schmidt reflected post-game, the Wallabies had been “relatively confident that we could get back into the game” going into the second term, but Ireland stormed home for a win that is worthy of its own chapter in rugby’s history books.

“Yeah tough one to take, obviously. In the game for the first 60 minutes I think, and we had a lineout just here in the corner, if we get something out of that we’re within a score with 20 to go and we’re right in the game,” Schmidt said on Stan Sport.

“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.

“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.

“Sometimes when you try too hard and you’re overchasing things it does become difficult.”

There was an element of deja vu when Hansen dived over for a second try around the 10-minute mark, exactly as he had for his first only moments earlier. Tip-on passes saw the British & Irish Lion crossed untouched near the sticks.

Ireland led 14-0 and were playing at more than a point per minute, which made Ikitau’s effort incredibly important. The Australians fought their way back into the contest, refusing to back down or shy away after trailing early.

But mistakes came back to haunt the Wallabies at times, with Max Jorgensen knocking a loose ball on ahead of Hansen’s second. Other errors made it “a tough night for the boys”, who have one more match left in a 15-Test season.

“I felt that we had won the space behind them but we just didn’t get up. The synchronisation just wasn’t there,” Schmidt added.

“We don’t want to be sloppy in those situations. We’d like to think that we can be efficient in those times, just like the Irish were and we’ve got to keep building toward that.

“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. Sometimes they found good space, particularly in the first half.

“In terms of that, we were hoping to do something similar in the second half but in the platforms that we got, we just probably didn’t get the ball consistently.

“I think they had 10 scrums to three and that again just gave them that platform to be able to dictate play.”