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Australia kept Ireland scoreless in the second half to claim a 22-15 victory in their one-off rugby Test at Lang Park in Brisbane on Saturday night.
Ireland's Jonathan Sexton kicked five first-half penalties as the visitors trailed 16-15 at the break, but Matt Giteau sealed the win with two penalty kicks in the second 40 minutes.
The Wallabies' third Test victory of their home international campaign was set up by tries from playmakers Luke Burgess and Quade Cooper in the first half.
"To come away without them crossing the line is great for our confidence going into the Tri-Nations," says Cooper in yet another man-of-the-match performance.
"It was one of those games but at the end of the day we got a win.
"No matter how many points you win by - a win's good for us."
Burgess pounced from a scrum to intercept a pass from number eight Chris Henry and he scampered away for the opening try in the 18th minute.
Cooper then put the Wallabies in front with a try after the half-time siren had sounded when he shifted to the left-hand side of the field and sliced through Ireland's feeble defensive line with a deceptive dummy and step.
He missed both of his conversion attempts but recorded two penalties in the first half to claim a personal haul of 11 points.
Saia Faingaa admitted that Australia's inexperienced pack, particularly its front row where the likes of Ben Alexander and Stephen Moore are currently missing through injury, still has plenty of work to do.
"It wasn't sound, we've got a lot to work on," he said.
"We're moving forward and we're an up-and-coming scrummaging machine.
"We didn't have a great performance tonight, but we're building for something."
Australia: 22 (L Burgess, Q Cooper tries; Q Cooper 2 penalties, M Giteau 2 penalties)
Ireland: 15 (J Sexton 5 penalties)
ABC