Australia captain Rocky Elsom admits his side must improve for the upcoming Tri-Nations following an unconvincing win against Ireland.
Wallabies skipper says they "just weren't sharp enough"
Australia captain Rocky Elsom admits his side must improve for the upcoming Tri-Nations following an unconvincing 22-15 win against Ireland on Saturday.
The Wallabies scored two first-half tries through Luke Burgess and Quade Cooper in a match that was otherwise filled with errors.
Ireland fly-half Jonathan Sexton kept them in touch as Australia led 16-15 at half time in Brisbane - the tourists remaining scoreless after the break.
The victory was welcome following Australia's 21-20 loss to England last weekend but Elsom says improvement is necessary ahead of their Tri-Nations opener against South Africa on July 24.
"We've got a lot of work to do," he admitted.
"The Tri-Nations is the most difficult tournament in world rugby so we have a lot of work to do.
"We just weren't sharp enough and not on the same page. I think when we played Ireland last year we played a hell of a lot better and came away with a draw."
Australia coach Robbie Deans said he was nevertheless content with the way his side closed out the win after missing chances against England.
He said: "That's something we're trying to master, and didn't last week, so the boys worked their way through an awkward contest.
"We played a lot of rugby and deserved to win, clearly we're frustrated we couldn't produce a little bit more."
Errors
Meanwhile, Ireland coach Declan Kidney blamed his team's error count as they rounded off a disappointing Antipodean tour without a win.
The tourists were thrashed 66-28 by the All Blacks before a narrow loss to New Zealand Maori.
While they ran the Wallabies close, Kidney said his side had deserved to be heading home without a win.
"We made too many errors, especially when we were attacking, and that was frustrating," he said.
"We defended stoutly but that left us short of energy at the end when we were trying to claw something back - in the end the result probably flattered us.
"There is now more competition for places and whoever plays well next season will get to wear the shirt.
"A lot of the possession they enjoyed was under our control as we gave them back the ball and, as a result, we were on the defensive a lot of the time."
