Irish courage earned draw, says O'Driscoll
Brian O’Driscoll insisted Ireland’s courage enabled them to salvage a dramatic 20-20 draw with Australia at Croke Park today.
O’Driscoll capped his 100th Test appearance by scoring the match-saving try with a minute to go as the Wallabies finally wilted before Ireland’s late onslaught.
Australia saw their Grand Slam hopes evaporate with Ronan O’Gara’s conversion beneath the posts and O’Driscoll hailed his side’s refusal to concede defeat.
“I’m pleased we were rewarded for showing the bottle to stick with them until the death and grind out a draw,” said the Ireland skipper.
“We tried a lot of things. Not everything stuck but plenty of things did. If you don’t try these things you don’t get better.
“We’ll all be better for having played together. It’s difficult to click when you haven’t played together for six months.
“Australia have played a lot recently and for the most part we did reasonably well.”
O’Driscoll’s try was the product of a well-drilled set-piece move that saw him run onto a pass from Tomas O’Leary to stroll over unopposed.
“It’s a smart play that we’ve practised a lot over the last year. In the Six Nations we didn’t have the chance to use it,” said O’Driscoll.
“It’s nice when plays like that come off.”
O’Driscoll also singled out under-pressure Ronan O’Gara for praise.
“I thought Rog was really good today,” said the Irish captain. “He kicked immaculately both off the ground and out of hand and read things well, so I thought it was a big performance - not that any of his teammates who have played with him lots of times felt he needed it.
“He’s been solid. When you’re involved in a team that’s top of their Heineken Cup group and third or fourth in the Magners League and people are giving out about their (number) 10, I think it’s a little rough.”
Australia captain Rocky Elsom cancelled out a try by Tommy Bowe to help put the Wallabies 20-13 ahead with 19 minutes to go, but Ireland’s late response was magnificent.
Head coach Declan Kidney was pleased with his side’s ambition and attitude.
“Draws are a strange event in rugby but two minutes before the end I would have taken it,” he said.
“The one thing you can’t coach is attitude and we showed that in bucket loads to come back like we did after being under pressure.
“We didn’t hit the ground running. There are plenty of areas we need to brush up on – the whole range in fact.
“We seemed to play a large chunk of the game in their half. They played a very smart game to keep the pressure on us.
“We said at the end of last season we’re a good side, not a great side and I’ll stick with that.”
Winger Luke Fitzgerald suffered a knee injury and will undergo a scan with an update expected over the next 48 hours.
