Ireland

Ireland coach Declan Kidney no doubt about his frustrations with his team's poor performances on their mid-year tour to the Southern Hemisphere.

Following the 28-66 loss to New Zealand and a 28-31 defeat by the NZ Maori, their 15-22 loss to Australia at the weekend meant they returned home without any victories.

Kidney blamed his team's error count for the disappointing Antipodean tour.

"We made too many errors, especially when we were attacking, and that was frustrating," said Kidney of the defeat at the hands of the Wallabies.

"We defended stoutly but that left us short of energy at the end when we were trying to claw something back - in the end the result probably flattered us.

"There is now more competition for places and whoever plays well next season will get to wear the shirt.

"A lot of the possession they enjoyed was under our control as we gave them back the ball and, as a result, we were on the defensive a lot of the time."

Captain Brian O'Driscoll also accepted the tour had been a steep learning curve for some of the squad.

"We had a number of players earning their first caps and it was all good experience - they will take a lot out of it," he said.

"We haven't managed any victories on this tour and of course that is what you are judged on. We wanted to put a bit of pride back into our defensive game as we let ourselves down against New Zealand. Although we had a couple of lapses against Australia, we were fairly solid.

"The lads will now enjoy four or five weeks of holidays and try to freshen up for next year," he added.