Irish stun Australia, Springboks shine

The World Cup had its first big upset yesterday when Ireland squeezed and harried the life out of Australia to record an historic 15-6 win at Eden Park.

Brian O’Driscoll’s team battled like banshees to stifle the Australian pack and when the ball did go wide they were more than a match for the much-vaunted running skills of Quade Cooper, Will Genia and Kurtley Beale.

Frustrated and confused, the Australians gave away a rash of penalties, four of which were kicked by Jonathan Sexton and Ronan O’Gara with the impressive Sexton adding a drop goal.

The Australians were level 6-6 at half-time with two James O’Connor penalties, but that is where their scoring stopped and coach Robbie Deans has a huge task on his hands to lift his demoralised squad who will now likely have to face up to defending champions South Africa in the quarter-finals.

“We were mentally in a place where we felt we owed ourselves a big performance as much as we owed the Irish public one,” skipper O’Driscoll said.

“That’s half the job done and we have a game (Russia) next week that we have to win and then deal with the one after that.”

The victory takes Ireland to eight points in their pool, three ahead of the Wallabies with two matches to play, but it was also a huge psychological blow for one of the fancied tournament teams.

Wallabies’ coach Deans said: “The Irish played more intelligently, they put us under a lot of pressure and profited from that, particularly in our end of the ground.

“It doesn’t change everything, the tournament remains the same and what we got tonight was an insight into what the World Cup is all about and what the Irish brought is exactly what’s required to succeed in tournaments like this.”

The Springboks were magnificent in their 49-3 dismantling of Fiji, who had been expected to give them a good run for their money after coming close to pulling off an upset against them four years ago in France.

The Pacific Islanders started strongly in Wellington with a succession of charging runs, but the Springboks defence held firm and when their backs in turn went on the attack the floodgates soon opened up.

It was all in sharp contrast to the Springboks’ edgy opener when they were fortunate to edge Wales 17-16, but now they have a clear road into the last eight with Samoa and Namibia to come.

In the day’s opener Argentina got their World Cup campaign back on track with a convincing 43-8 win over Romania in Invercargill, setting up a showdown with Scotland in Wellington next Sunday with the winner in pole position to ensure a slot in the quarter-finals.

Tournament favourites New Zealand, meanwhile, travelled down to the earthquake-stricken city of Christchurch the day after hammering Japan 83-7 in Hamilton, joining Scotland who travelled there on a goodwill trip from Wellington.

England completed their preparations for the game against Georgia today in Dunedin, with Wales taking on Samoa in Hamilton and France up against Canada in Napier as the other matches on the schedule.

Yesterday’s results: Pool B – Argentina vs Romania 43-8; Pool C – Australia vs Ireland 6-15; Pool D – South Africa vs Fiji 49-3.

Standings: Pool B – Scotland 9; Argentina 6; England 4; Georgia, Romania 0. Pool C – Ireland 8; Australia 5; US 4; Russia 1; Italy 0. Pool D – S. Africa 9; Samoa, Fiji 5; Wales 1; Namibia 0.