Declan Kidney: 'Work starts now'

Ireland coach Declan Kidney has claimed that the hard work begins now for his players after they defeated Australia earlier today.

The shock 15-6 result now means that Australia, South Africa and New Zealand could all find themselves in the same side of the draw for the knock-out phases and Kidney believes that that can only be good news for the competition.

"This is our fifth time playing Australia in the Rugby World Cup and you get a bit fed up with losing so it’s good probably for the Rugby World Cup, it puts all the Tri Nations teams in one half and Six Nations teams in the other so let’s see what happens," he said after the match.

"I was pleased with the way we went about our business, we managed to stifle a very attacking Australian side.

"I think our scrum is getting a little bit stronger, a few people were knocking it over the last year or so but it’s getting there. We still have a little bit of work to do, the work probably only really starts for us now."

Ireland's next match is against Russia on Sunday, September 25.