Andy Farrell will head off on his Lions sabbatical on the back of an Ireland win, but this was not the cohesive performance that the head coach wanted to sign off with.
As was the case during the defeat to New Zealand at the start of the month, Ireland were extremely sloppy, as a litany of handling errors and turnovers repeatedly stunted their momentum.
Australia deserve credit for making Ireland look so ordinary at times, as Joe Schmidt’s fingerprints were all over the manner in which his Wallabies side shut down his former side’s stuttering attack.
Schmidt fell just short in terms of his bid to mark his return to the Aviva Stadium with a victory, but the Kiwi will have seen enough improvements to suggest that Australia will be in an even stronger position when he next comes up against Farrell in his role as Lions boss for next summer’s first Test on July 19.
Farrell had spoken about wanting to mark the IRFU’s 150th anniversary, and Cian Healy becoming the country’s most-capped player (134), in fitting fashion, and while his side fell over the line in the end, it was an error-strewn display that left more questions than answers.
The lineout struggles continued, and with green jerseys inexplicably knocking on ball after ball, Ireland are left with a lot of work to do, as Simon Easterby takes over from Farrell on an interim basis.
Tries from Josh van der Flier, captain Caelan Doris and Gus McCarthy were just about enough to get the job done. Sam Prendergast kicked five points on his second start before the 21-year-old out-half was replaced by Jack Crowley for the closing 14 minutes.
Ireland actually started brightly, but as soon as Hugo Keenan knocked on close to the Australian line, it started a string of poor mistakes.
By the break, Ireland had made 16 handling errors and conceded 13 turnovers. Those jarring numbers are never going to be good enough at this level, especially not against a team as well-drilled as Schmidt’s Wallabies.
A TMO check resulted in Joe McCarthy being shown a harsh yellow card for what the fussy officials deemed to be a high tackle on Rob Valetini.
That allowed Noah Lolesio to kick the visitors into a ninth-minute lead that was soon extended to 10-0. Prendergast had initially done well to stop Andrew Kellaway scoring out wide, but Australia worked their way back to the other side of the pitch, where Max Jorgensen went over in the corner.
Ireland were the creators of their own downfall but they were gifted a way back into the game when Valetini was penalised for leading with the forearm on Mack Hansen.
Italian referee Andrew Piardi did not deem the offence worthy of a yellow card.
Prendergast thought he had scored a try from a quick-tap, and while Piardi called play back, Ireland still managed to get over for their opening try, as Van der Flier powered through two Aussie defenders to continue his excellent form this month.
Prendergast pushed his conversion wide, as the error count continued to rise. The sight of Taniela Tupou rampaging up field after the giant prop intercepted a Doris pass was quite something, and with the Irish defence scrambling back to recover, Australia forced a penalty, which Lolesio duly knocked over.
With the lineout misfiring and reliable players like Keenan continuing to make uncharacteristic errors, Ireland could have no complaints about trailing 13-5 at half-time.
Prendergast gave Ireland the response they desperately needed after the restart, as out-half put his earlier missed conversion behind him by bisecting the posts with a well-struck penalty to cut the gap again.
With Ireland in the ascendancy, the Wallabies’ discipline started to slip, but rather than take the three points on offer, Prendergast went to the corner. That decision paid off, as Ireland’s lineout fired, and Jamison Gibson-Park found Doris, who was never going to be stopped from close range.
Prendergast made it a seven-pointer by adding the easy extras, as Ireland went in front for the first time in the 49th minute. It didn’t last long, however.
Farrell looked to his bench for reinforcements, but Tom O’Toole’s first involvement was to cough up a penalty in front of the posts, which allowed Australia to retake the lead courtesy of Lolesio.
Slipping back into their bad habits, further Irish indiscipline was punished by a long-range Lolesio kick, as Australia went 19-15 in front just after the hour mark.
Craig Casey and Jack Crowley brought some much-needed energy, before 21-year-old replacement hooker Gus McCarthy struck for the crucial score from a maul with eight minutes left. Crowley converted, as Ireland desperately clung on to end the year by grinding out a scrappy win.
Scorers – Ireland: tries, Van der Flier, Doris, Gus McCarthy try each; Prendergast con, pen. Crowley con. Australia: Jorgensen try. Lolesio con, 4 pens.
Ireland – H Keenan; M Hansen, R Henshaw, B Aki (G Ringrose 55), J Lowe; S Prendergast (J Crowley 66), J Gibson-Park (C Casey 66); A Porter (C Healy 67), R Kelleher (G McCarthy 67), F Bealham (T O’Toole 53); J McCarthy (I Henderson 53), J Ryan (P O’Mahony 53); T Beirne, J van der Flier, C Doris (capt).
Australia – T Wright; A Kellaway (H Potter 78), J Suaalii, L Ikitau, M Jorgensen, N Lolesio (T Edmed 73-77)), J Gordon (T McDermott 61); J Slipper (I Kailea 50), B Paenga-Amosa (B Pollard 56), T Tupou (A Ala’alatoa 46); N Frost, J Williams (L Salakaia-Loto 59); R Valetini (L Gleeson 73), F McReight, H Wilson (capt).
Ref: A Piardi (Italy)