TWO weeks today the Wallabies come to Lansdowne Road, and if the encounter is half as entertaining as yesterday's game against Wales at the Millennium Stadium, the Irish rugby public are in for a treat. After this highly entertaining draw, in a game that was short on true quality at times but high on twists and turns, John Connolly's side will probably be the more disappointed of the two, principally because they enjoyed the majority of possession and territory over the course of the game. They were pretty effective with it too, for the most part, but a couple of silly lapses allowed Wales back into the game and they just couldn't shake them.

But there's plenty for Ireland to worry about, particularly the hugely gifted Australian backline. On paper, its components are as good as any in world rugby, but the Wallaby management haven't figured out how best to assemble them just yet.

Unlike flat-pack furniture, backlines don't come with instructions and the Wallabies latest attempt at finding their best combination saw Stephen Larkham reinvented as an inside-centre, Matt Rogers thrown in at outhalf, Lote Tiquri cast as a number 13 and Matt Giteau filling in at scrum-half. All told, that represented a fair few round pegs in square holes but the experiment appeared to work well, particularly the centre combination of Larkham and Tiqiri.

There's no reason, either, why they shouldn't stick with Giteau at scrum-half, even if his pass did falter as the game went on. For his vision alone, he's worth his place.

Early-on, Giteau got has hands on the ball almost at will as Australia enjoyed near exclusive rights to possession. With that much possession, it was only a matter of time before the visitors made the breakthrough and after a flat Larkham skippass put Wycliff Palu through a neatly engineered gap, Cameron Shepherd finished off a patient move in the corner. Seven minutes later, the Welsh midfield defence was once again breached, this time thanks to a neat Latham chip which the full-back managed to skilfully gather on the bounce. The man-of-thematch was hauled down close to the line but when Wales were penalised for going off their feet at the breakdown, Giteau tapped the penalty quickly and dived over the line as Wales dozed. With a couple of Giteau conversions, and a penalty, the visitors appeared to be strolling into a 17-6 half-time advantage but Wales's electric backline was never likely to spend a whole afternoon frustrated.

Just before the interval, Henson found Gareth Thomas on a defence splitting line and Shane Williams dotted the ball down in the corner. The Millennium Stadium awoke and with James Hook, on the for the injured Stephen Jones, kicking the convert and adding a penalty, there was only a point between the sides at the break. As one wag decreed, it had been a half of two halves and the second period wasn't much different.

Early on Wales' ascendancy was rewarded by a Martin Williams try, the open side pouncing on a loose ball over the Australian line. With the help of Hook's conversion, and an earlier penalty from the out-half, Wales were now nine points clear but then Australia did their very own Lazarus impression.

First, Cameron Shepherd scored a try after a superb Tiqiri break and almost immediately, Chris Latham weaved his way past four Welsh defenders to score the try of the game. Three points to the good, Australia were pegged back level thanks to another nerveless Hook penalty with five minutes to go. Then Wales should have been awarded an injury-time penalty from just inside their own half when Rocky Elsom was guilty of obstruction but referee Walsh decided that the collision was accidental and that was that.

WALES K Morgan; G Thomas, T Shanklin, G Henson, S Williams; S Jones (c), D Peel; G Jenkins, M Rees, A Jones, I Gough, I Evans, J Thomas, M Williams, R Jones Subs J Hook for S Jones, 25mins; D Jones for A Jones, 70mins Scorers Hook 2 cons, 3 pens; Jones pen;

Henson pen; S Williams and M Williams, try each AUSTRALIA C Latham; C Rathbone, L Tuqiri, S Larkham, C Shepherd; M Rogers, M Giteau;

A Baxter, T McIsaac, N Sharpe, D Vickerman, R Elsom, P Waugh (c), W Palu Subs S Hoiles for Palu, 58mins; J Valentine for Larkham, 59mins; M Chisholm for Vickerman, 79mins;

Scorers Giteau 3 cons, pen, try; Shepherd 2 tries; Latham try Referee S Walsh (NZ)