Australia 22 - 15 Ireland: Wallabies stutter past sorry Ireland

AUSTRALIA ensured Ireland return home from their tour winless, but the victory in front of 45,498 at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane came in an unpolished and ill-disciplined performance.

The Australians ran in two tries, both in the first half, with scrum-half Luke Burgess scoring an intercept try and fly-half Quade Cooper crossing after a skilful individual run on the stroke of half-time. Cooper also slotted two first-half penalties.

The Irish were held scoreless in the second period and, despite their best efforts, were unable to grab a try in the contest, all 15 of their points coming from the boot of Jonathan Sexton.

Inside centre Matt Giteau scored the only points of the second half when he kicked two penalties for the hosts, who lost 21-20 to England last weekend.

"When we played Ireland last year we played a hell of a lot better than that and came away with a draw so you have to be thankful when you get up on the scoreboard," Australia captain Ricky Elsom said.