Duncan Williams of Munster and Dean Mumm of Australia in action during the tour match between Munster and the Australian Wallabies at Thomond Park. Photo /Getty Images
Duncan Williams of Munster and Dean Mumm of Australia in action during the tour match between Munster and the Australian Wallabies at Thomond Park. Photo /Getty Images
The Wallabies have run into a classic rugby tour match ambush in Limerick, losing 15-6 to Irish powerhouse Munster in atrocious weather conditions.
In what might have been a genuine selection trial for this Saturday's Test match against Italy, the Wallabies stood next to no chance when they went tothe break at 6-6 in a howling wind that would be against them in the second half.
They barely made it into Munster's 50 in the entire second half and few players pressed their claims in a week when coach Robbie Deans had said all positions were up for grabs after last weekend's Test loss to England.
Munster's Australian five-eighth Paul Warwick kicked three penalties and two drop goals to lead his side to a fourth straight victory over touring Australian teams.
For the Wallabies, captain Berrick Barnes booted two first half penalty goals.
It was a game which lived up to all the tour match mythology - the weather was wild, the punches flew and the locals were hostile.
"I have to say this is the worst Australian team I have ever seen," local commentator George Hook told the Irish television audience.
Goal-posts wobbled, box kicks went backwards and team-mates were needed to put a finger on the ball so it didn't blow over for goal-kickers as a southerly howled and the rain swirled with it.
A wild brawl erupted late in the first half, with even the wingers running in to get a piece of the action.
Warwick gave the home side the lead for the first time with a penalty goal two minutes after the break.
He added another seven minutes later for 12-6 and a second drop goal in the 61st minute as the game slid away from the second-string Wallabies, who appeared to have little idea how to handle the conditions.
The one bright spot for Australia was hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau getting through the match in his return from a serious ankle injury.
Munster are currently in first place in Europe's Magner's League, and have never stopped celebrating their historic 1978 win over the All Blacks.
Rugby is a religion in the grim but friendly city of 90,000, which has battled a spate of gangland violence over the past decade and is now in the grip of a fierce recession.
