Ireland had climbed into the Australians for the guts of 40 minutes but their efforts came at a price.
Rob Kearney, Andrew Trimble and Jared Payne all started. None would start the second half.
As Bernard Foley lined up a conversion to finish the half, Tadhg Furlong was already inching to the changing rooms.
Ireland were 17-7 up but the Australians had finished the half on a high. Joe Schmidt and his players would have been expecting an onslaught. The Aussies were battle-weary too but they had a European Grand Slam on the line.
We caught up with Tadhg Furlong and Kieran Marmion after Ireland’s 27-24 victory and they told us there was more chill in the half-time changing room that we would have expected. Furlong said:
“It is generally very focused on your job. Joe and Andy [Farrell] will have a few words and we’ll break into our units.
“I didn’t really notice if there were bodies all around the place. It was just about tasks – this is where we are and this is what we have to do.”
So focused was Furlong, indeed, that he didn’t even notice that Payne wasn’t going to make it for the second 40. He didn’t spot Marmion, a scrum-half, getting instructions about playing on the right wing.
Marmion’s heart must have been racing but, post-match, he made the major positional shift sound handy enough.
“I got a bit of a taster of it last week [against New Zealand]. I obviously haven’t played there much so it was about trusting my instincts, really.
“The lads on the sideline actually helped me out a good bit. Richie Murphy was kind of telling me what to do, so I was trying to listen to him and to get on with it.”
Marmion certainly got on with it and a couple of his six completed tackles had a huge sway on the final result.
Some going from Ireland’s makeshift XV.
Dick Clerkin makes his GAA Hour debut to talk about a wonderful career and argue passionately with Colm Parkinson over Sky Sports GAA. Subscribe here on iTunes.
