A 26-21 victory got Ireland's series in Australia back on track and set up a decider next week in Sydney. It was a deserved win for Joe Schmidt's side who improved drastically on last week's performance.
By no means was the result plain sailing for Ireland. They lost Andrew Conway early in the game due to a hip injury he suffered in the process of scoring Ireland's first try while Devin Toner was also forced off due to cramp. While Schmidt could opt for a like-for-like change in Jordan Larmour for Conway, the timing of Toner's injury meant Joey Carbery was introduced for the Leinster second row, something the Irish coach certainly wasn't expecting.
We were just hanging on in the end really. We had Joey Carbery come on to replace Devin Toner. I don't think I ever saw that before and I hope I don't see it again. Dev' was cramping up pretty badly. We knew we had to defend those last six or seven minutes. I thought Joey did really well when he came on, he made a couple of tackles.
Speaking on Sky Sports, Stephen Ferris was full of praise for Schmidt's post-match conferences and his reading of the game so soon after the finish. As for the Kiwi coach, his focus now turns to Saturday and the chance to cap a remarkable year for Irish rugby.
