Ireland snatched a 33-31 victory over Australia in the Nations Championship test in Sydney on Saturday, with Wallabies flyhalf Ben Donaldson missing a long-range penalty after the siren.Thomas Clarkson levelled the match at 31-31 with a late try and flyhalf Sam Prendergast’s conversion nudged the Irish ahead three minutes from time at Sydney Football Stadium.The Wallabies fought hard to win possession and earn a penalty at the death but Donaldson’s 50-metre kick from the right touch-line sailed wide.Ireland notched a sixth successive win over the Wallabies, though the hosts were much-improved compared to their 46-19 hiding by the Irish in Dublin last November.“God, it was so tight, so intense, a proper test match,” said Ireland fullback Hugo Keenan.“But to be fair to the lads, we asked to make this crowd, these thousands in green, proud and that’s exactly what we did.“We never gave up, we dug in deep and at the end of the day it just came down to a kick.“So, hard luck to Australia. They were very unlucky. It could have gone either way.”Hours after New Zealand won a nine-try thriller against France in Christchurch, Australia and Ireland had six tries between them by the 26th minute.The Wallabies led twice early through tries to outside backs Dylan Pietsch and Jock Campbell but were pegged back by Cian Prendergast and Josh van der Flier’s five-pointers.The Wallabies surged again, with lock Josh Canham diving over from a ruck and Max Jorgensen setting up Ryan Lonergan’s 26th-minute try with a brilliant interception and dash down the touch-line.Tries either side of halftime to scrumhalf Jamison Gibson-Park and Keenan nudged Ireland in front before Tate McDermott snatched back the lead after taking a quick tap near the line and burrowing over through a forest of Irish legs.Ireland hooker Dan Sheehan nearly made it a seventh lead change when he thundered over from a line-out drive but the try was chalked off due to obstruction in the buildup.Ireland’s forwards kept bashing away at the try-line and were finally rewarded when Australia went a man down for repeated offside penalties, with Lachlan Shaw given a yellow card.That opened the door for Clarkson to barge over from a ruck as the Irish condemned the Wallabies to a fifth consecutive defeat after their winless tour of Europe in November.“In patches we were really good. We had plenty of opportunities, we just weren’t good enough at the end of the day,” said Wallabies scrumhalf Tate McDermott.“And the Irish, to their credit, they’re a quality team.”