Aussies edge past Ireland

When Deans took over last month he promised to bring a new attacking style of play - but the Wallabies were made to work hard for their 18-12 victory by a determined Irish outfit, who were attempting to bounce back from last week's 21-11 defeat to New Zealand.

Both teams scored two tries, with Matt Giteau's two penalties proving the difference between the sides.

Giteau's partnership with half-back Luke Burgess worked well for the majority of the game, but the Wallabies will need to improve dramatically if they are to trouble the All Blacks later this year.

Ireland battled hard but lacked the killer punch in attack and often turned the ball over with some sloppy mistakes close to their line.

Berrick Barnes crossed for his third Test try after only five minutes - but after winning the line-out, Denis Leamy barged over to level the scores before an accurate conversion from Ronan O'Gara gave the Irish a surprise 7-5 lead.

The Wallabies were back in front six minutes later following a moment of brilliance from Giteau, who offloaded for James Horwill to score before nailing the simple conversion.

Giteau increased the Wallabies' lead to eight points with a long penalty, and he added another three early in the second half.

But Ireland hit back through captain Brian O'Driscoll, who scored a try after some good work from man-of-the-match Robert Kearney and Tony Buckley.

O'Gara could not land the conversion and although Ireland enjoyed the better field position in the final 15 minutes, the visitors failed to capitalise.