WITH 10 minutes to go and Ireland having just gone nine points up, a Wallaby supporter rose to his feet in a desperate attempt to rouse the Australian crowd. "Aussie, Aussie Aussie?" he implored.

Nothing, not a peep, and he slumped back into his seat.

It was just another battle the Australians lost on an epic evening in Auckland. The green masses, Irishness accentuated by distance from home, created a fantastic atmosphere, swamping their gold-clad counterparts and, as Keith Earls noted afterwards, the 'Ole Ole Ole' chants gave the occasion a distinct Italia '90 feel. A big Irish performance was expected but few were prepared for the completeness of this display and the incredible levels of intensity -- least of all the Aussies.

This was a monumental result, Ireland's best World Cup performance by a considerable distance and given the stage, the opposition and the consequences, the biggest result in Irish rugby history. For the moment.

It is also a result that has flipped the tournament upside-down, with the Wallabies now on course for a quarter-final against the Springboks before the winner faces the All Blacks in the semis -- which means the 'dream' New Zealand-Australia final will not take place. Shame that.

On the far side, the Six Nations teams, nostrils flaring, now smell a path to the final, with Ireland likely to face Wales in the quarters (the Welsh beat Samoa yesterday), with England or France providing the other semi-finalist.

Sanguine as ever, Declan Kidney wasn't complaining. "It's probably good for the World Cup. Let the Tri-Nations sort out one half and the Six Nations sort out the other half," said the Ireland coach.

The sense of shock in the Aussie camp was palpable. This was not part of the plan for a side that had been on a high since claiming the Tri-Nations title, and the sight of their scrum being emasculated revived unsettling memories of Marseilles four years ago when England did a number on them and pushed them all the way home.

All the work Australia have done on their scrum since then, under their Argentinian ex-Wallaby prop Patricio Noriega, was blown away by the technical excellence and sheer power of the Irish pack. The tremendous Cian Healy got Man of the Match, but it could have easily gone to Rory Best or Mike Ross (who monstered the Wallabies' hapless loose-head Sekope Kepu) while all eight forwards adhered to the mantra of scrum coach Greg Feek by working together as a unit.

The penalties flowed as a result and, although it was another difficult night for place-kickers, with Jonathan Sexton and James O'Connor both struggling, Ireland's scrum dominance kept Australia on the back foot and gave them a psychological edge.

Impact

Fears that World Cup referees would reduce the impact of the scrum in order to keep the game flowing have not materialised and, though it took Ireland a while to cotton onto the fact that Ross was the man to make them a scrummaging force, they got there in the end and now their scrum is a major weapon.

All week, the Irish camp had crackled with intent while the Wallabies could not mask a sense of entitlement and complacency. The torpor of August and uncertainty of New Plymouth were banished as Ireland got their game plan spot on, while the Wallabies looked ill-prepared (clearly at a loss as to how to cope with Ireland's turnover choke tackle).

After plenty of Irish discussion about it, this was cup rugby in action, produced by players who have been reared on it since their schooldays -- work the set-pieces, put pressure on the opposition's key men, play for territory, close down space and move the ball at the right moments.

And, when the rain began to teem in the second half and Sexton continued to put up garryowens on Kurtley Beale (Australia's best player) and Quade Cooper, we could have been in Musgrave Park, Donnybrook, Ravenhill or the Sportsground. This was old school and the Wallabies did not like it.

It was a day when everything seemed to go Ireland's way, not least the withdrawal of David Pocock and Stephen Moore before kick-off. Shorn of their breakdown master, Australia were unable to prevent Ireland from producing good ruck ball and the Irish back-row backed up the effort of their front-five with a big performance at the breakdown, with the Aussie trio anonymous by comparison.

Moore is a key figure in the Aussie scrummage and his replacement Tatafu Polata-Nau was no match for Best and his two bouncers. With Pocock out of the picture, Will Genia was the main target and the Irish hassled him through the middle throughout the game -- notably when Stephen Ferris picked him up and carted him like a bag of shopping towards the Wallaby posts.

Under similar pressure, Kiwi-born out-half Cooper tried to force the 'magic' to happen, butchering a couple of try-scoring opportunities through un-necessary showboating. Ireland would have liked a try themselves and came close on several occasions, notably when Tommy Bowe intercepted a Cooper folly only to be hunted down superbly by O'Connor having run the length of the pitch and then when impressive replacement Conor Murray danced over only to be called back by Bryce Lawrence.

Not a bother. It would have been good to compound Irish superiority with a bigger scoreline but 15-6 will do just fine, and an emotionally charged Les Kiss paid tribute afterwards to the belief of the players and the hard work they put in building towards this game.

"It was passionate," said Ireland's defence coach. "When you see what they have been through, they worked their b******s off in pre-season and felt the pain in not being able to get the rewards they deserved in August.

"Even the US game, the weather conditions didn't allow them to get to where they were hoping to get to and they were as hard on themselves as anyone. And there is opinion out there, but I just really wanted them to get that reward. They had to work hard for it but I was really happy for them.

"There was certainly something about the guys taking control; we are the coaches but ultimately the players define what they are about, this was one of those weeks.

"We haven't been as good as we would have liked to have been but underneath it all, there was something sitting there nicely, bubbling away and we just had to bring it out of ourselves."

Ronan O'Gara came off the bench to make another telling contribution, taking over the kicking duties with customary assurance to see Ireland home and, again, we had the intriguing sight of the Sexton-O'Gara 10-12 combination, which again worked very well.

"It's nice to know that you have that sort of flexibility," agreed Kiss. "It changes the shape of how you play. We have only dabbled at it at this stage so we'll see where it goes in future."

That future is looking pretty rosy for Ireland now. The frustrating aspect to a seminal evening is the fact that it took a backs-to-the-wall build-up for Ireland to really show what they are capable of.

If they can hit this level of intensity for the remainder of the tournament, who knows how far it will take them? Russia, Italy, Wales, England and New Zealand in the final? Don't rule it out -- on this evidence, it's on.

IRELAND -- R Kearney (A Trimble 75); T Bowe, B O'Driscoll (capt), G D'Arcy (R O'Gara 50), K Earls; J Sexton, E Reddan (C Murray 58); C Healy, R Best, M Ross (T Court 77), D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell; S Ferris, S O'Brien, J Heaslip.

AUSTRALIA -- K Beale; J O'Connor, A Fainga'a, P McCabe, A Ashley-Cooper; Q Cooper, W Genia; S Kepu, T Polata-Nau, B Alexander (J Slipper 62); D Vickerman (R Simmons 62), J Horwill (capt); R Elsom (W Palu 73), B McCalman, R Samo.

REF -- B Lawrence (NZ)

Top five Ireland wins

1 -- September 17, 2011, Auckland -- Ireland 15 Australia 6

Biggest performance on the biggest stage against the Tri- Nations champions. Could be knocked off top spot if Ireland kick on from here.

2 -- March 21, 2009, Cardiff -- Wales 15 Ireland 17

Ronan O'Gara's drop goal, Stephen Jones' long-range agony, Brian O'Driscoll meeting Jack Kyle and a first Grand Slam for 61 years. Pretty special.

3 -- March 13, 1948, Belfast -- Ireland 6 Wales 3

Kyle, Karl Mullen, Jimmy McCarthy and the rest of the 1948 Grand Slam heroes set a benchmark that Ireland would not hit for more than six decades.

4 -- November 9, 2002, Dublin -- Ireland 18 Australia 9

Ireland's first significant win over one of the big three.

Ronan O'Gara was sublime in the rain as the world champions were out-thought and out-muscled.

5 -- February 19, 1994, London -- England 12 Ireland 13

Stands out because the 1990s were so grim for Ireland and yet they travelled to Twickenham and turned over a superb English outfit.

Simon Geoghegan's try was a thing of beauty.

- Hugh Farrelly

Irish Independent