Paul O'Connell says Ireland made too many mistakes

Ireland lock Paul O'Connell was left to rue Ireland's error count after an 18-12 defeat by Australia in Melbourne.

"We made too many mistakes, myself included. If we cut out the mistakes, we would have won the game and that is very disappointing," said O'Connell.

"If we want to get to the next level, we need to cut that out.

"We conceded two soft tries. I don't think Matt Giteau should have been allowed to offload for the second try, nor Lote Tuqiri for the first try."

Saturday's defeat followed last weekend's 21-12 reverse to New Zealand in Auckland.

Ireland briefly led 7-5 at the Telstra Dome in Melbourne and almost snatched a late victory after rallying from 18-7 behind.

While O'Connell was frustrated at his side's inability to beat the southern hemisphere teams in their own backyard, he can see signs of progress.

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"We've been together as a team a good few years now and we need to start stepping up and winning down in the southern hemisphere," he said.

"We've been talking a bit about this lately and I think we did step up today.

"We're a very fit side and although Irish rugby had a very disappointing World Cup it's at a very good stage."

Australia captain Stirling Mortlock was relieved to have survived Ireland's fightback, admitting his side were caught cold after half-time.

"We've been a little bit scrappy," he said.

"You can't take anything away from Ireland. We seem to have a little bit of an issue coming out slow after half-time."