A little disappointing to read through the thread and see all the criticism of Garces, and seing elsewhere Cheika's moaning in the aftermath pressers about the refereeing. I wont delve into the cards but what I will bemoan was our inaccuracy and indiscipline.
With such scarce posession and territory in the first half, we really did a shit job of making the most of it when we had it. Silly offloads and unforced turnovers just squandered any semblance of continuity.
Breakdown interpretations were an issue, but again it comes back to how we dealt with them. Pocock competed well enough at the breakdowns to procure some turnovers, but for the most part, he was pinged. He and the team needed to adapt to Garces' interpretations much sooner because indiscipline really hurt us in that first 20 minutes, which was arguably where we lost the game.
There is certainly no shame in losing to Ireland, an astute and well drilled Ireland that has improved immesurably since the World Cup.
Even though the momentum swung our way in the first stanza of the second half, the Irish fightback was laudable given their injury forced changes. Their tight five got the better of us, in particular Tadhr Furlong, Rory Best, and Iain Henderson, and Van Der Flier was deservedly MoTM filling O'Brien's starting berth against the Pooper.
It's a concern that we have regressed in this area since the WC, given we play England next week.