SYDNEY -- Stepping up to the tee with the game in the balance and minutes after the fulltime siren, Ben Donaldson could only watch as he sent the game winning penalty to the right of the uprights and condemned the Wallabies to a heartbreaking 33-31 loss to Ireland to start their season.
But while Donaldson will wear this defeat on his shoulders in plenty of minds, you need to dive deeper to see where exactly it went wrong for a side that was on the brink of ending yet another losing streak.
Entering the match on a four-game losing run and a five-game winless streak to Ireland that stretches back to 2018, the Wallabies needed to shred their poor habits of 2025, including their slow starts and righting a lineout that had fallen to pieces, if they were to give themselves a chance against the world No. 3 side.
For much of the match, it seemed the Wallabies had righted those wrongs after they produced close to the perfect start, scoring through Dylan Pietsch in just the third minute.
First the forwards got high at the lineout to disrupt Ireland before Angus Bell snatched the loose ball to secure possession inside Ireland's half. Seconds later, the backline was sweeping the ball right to left and back, sending the ball through the hands with everyone in the 15 involved in the opening minutes as they found the soft Ireland shoulders and bent the line. Soon an overlap was spotted on the right, and Carter Gordon swung the ball first to Jock Campbell -- who made an amazing pick up as the ball dropped to his feet -- and then onto Pietsch to go over untouched in the corner.
It was in complete contrast to how the Wallabies had started their season against the British and Irish Lions last year, and how they finished it in Europe in November. A red-hot start and a lineout steal against a side that completed 100% of their throws against the Wallabies just seven months earlier.
The lead would fluctuate between the two sides for much of the first half as the Wallabies backline continued to hum, Gordon looked calm in his first start on Australian soil in three years as he created a strong combination with Ryan Lonergan in his first start in the gold jersey. The forward pack, meanwhile, was massive; Rob Valetini made his presence felt with 19 carries, while Josh Canham got up to steal four lineouts in just his third Test.
But before long, old habits crept into the Wallabies' game. Poor clearances at the restart opened the door for Ireland to hit straight back too often, with two heart stopping moments metres from the Wallabies line almost walking Ireland straight in.
Another lapse in concentration on the halftime siren saw what should have been a 12-point lead turn to just five after the Wallabies switched off and allowed Ireland to sweep the ball from a scrum on their red zone 80 metres downfield for Ireland scrumhalf Jamison Gibson-Park to cross under the posts.
It was that frustrating lack of discipline, especially in the second half, that saw the hosts' early efforts come undone.
By fulltime they had been pinged 12 times -- most often inside their own half -- as Ireland happily camped inside the attacking zone and laid the pressure. While the Wallabies defence was valiant as they attempted to withstand a constant green wave that hammered their defensive wall, the pressure resulted in even more penalties, a yellow card to debutant Lachie Shaw after a team warning and, in the closing three minutes, the match-winning try.
"We know that they convert very, very well from any position they get inside the 22, so what we couldn't afford is what we did in the second half and give them so many opportunities to come into our 22," Schmidt said post-match.
"Leading 24-12, we missed two line breaks that when you don't convert, you pay the price.
"But creating those line breaks, creating the tries that we did score, I think is evidence that we're still a real threat. And on the other side of the ball, one of the things we've got to be is really disciplined.
"And I really felt like we opened them up. And they're a very, very good defensive team.
"It's heartening, but as has been mentioned, we've got to come out on the right side of a result. Ireland are so miserly usually. You don't get as many chances as we got, and we didn't take enough of them.
"And we've got to be really hard on ourselves around that because that's the reality."
There were strong performances across the park; Max Jorgensen's steal midfield to set up a hard-running Lonergan in support; Campbell contesting valiantly in the air and holding firm in defence, rewarded with a try in the 14th minute; and Bell dominating the contact zone both in attack and defence.
But there were just enough mistakes from the group, and the polish wasn't quite there with several line breaks squandered through poor offloads, while Gordon's two missed conversion to start the game left another four points on the park.
The final quarter could be described in one word: frustrating.
From the multiple penalties inside their own half, the lack of ball in hand, and inability to play out of their own half, the Wallabies were their own undoing.
"Ill discipline's been a bit of a plague of this side and again, it was kind of existing a little bit tonight," Tate McDermott said after the loss. "I thought that's through our own fault, really. We can't blame Ben [O'Keefe] or anyone out there for that. We're offside.
"You look at that first penalty attempt that Ben [Donaldson] took, we've got no kind of defence on the far-left edge of our field, and they get 50 metres up field and then we're back in our own half and that was kind of the story of the second half.
"We barely strung any phases together because we constantly infringed around the ruck or we were offside and against a team like Ireland, we defended valiantly, but we can't do that for as long as we did without a consequence and unfortunately that's why the result was how it was tonight."
And of course, Harry Wilson's decision to go for points in the both the 72 minute and after the siren from close to the exact same spot, 40 metres out and on a hard angle, instead of putting the pressure on Ireland's line will be examined heavily over the coming weeks and months.
"In the one in the 72 minute, I guess we had a bit of a chat because he [Donaldson] couldn't really make many metres if he did kick for touch," Wilson explained his decision after the game.
"We contemplated having a scrum there and ultimately sort of went for goal, hopefully, to try and get eight points ahead going into the last seven or six minutes.
"Hindsight, obviously, potentially probably could have gone for a scrum there and let our backs go.
"In the 80th minute, we did have a lock off the field there too and I backed Donno. I know he's a good kicker and I loved how he stepped up in that moment he wanted it and that's what you want from your 10.
"I can live with him missing that because he wasn't scared of the moment he wanted it and I'm sure down the future ... he'll step up and get that win for the Wallabies."
While the Wallabies threw their arms around Donaldson in support after the final whistle, they'll know this was yet another win that slipped through their grasp -- not because of a missed penalty, but because there's yet still more work to be done to beat the world's best.