Quade Cooper was exposed as a flat-track bully - and that's just one of the conclusions to take from the Wallabies disaster against Ireland.

It was a sorry night all round for Australia and their New Zealand coach Robbie deans.

The suspect scrum came back to haunt them, their vulnerability to a physical forwards opponent was exposed again, the selection blunder of a lack of specialist No 7 cover for the injured David Pocock was sorely shown and their backs, denied of front foot ball and rocked by the tough tackling of the Irish, looked anything but the lightning attack that dominated the business end of the Tri-Nations.

There was a smugness about the Wallabies entering this match. From chirpy tweets to almost arrogance at press conferences, the smirks will now be replaced by frowns as they realise the mountain that is in front of them.

They now face the likelihood of taking on world champions South Africa in the quarter-finals.

The Springboks were in direct contrast to the Wallabies yesterday.

Yes, they were only playing Fiji, but there was a growing fluidity to their game to complement their hard-nosed attitude.

There's no doubt that if the Wallabies have to front South Africa in the first of the knockout matches, they will be up a far more organised, cohesive and determined Springboks side than the one they scratched their way past in Durban a few weeks back for a victory they were adamant would springboard them into this World Cup.

Decidedly average for most of their tournament-opener against Italy last weekend, they were totally ordinary against the fired up Irish.

The suspicions that Cooper struggles to operate off the back foot were confirmed.

In a game dragged into the tightest of confrontations where defence was so vital, it's a wonder how a No 10 can continue to operate at this level when he has to be hidden on attack.

And without his injured body guard Digby Ioane, Cooper looked even more lost as he switched between first five and fullback.

Do his attacking skills really outweigh his dislike for defence and the deficiencies there to justify his growing reputation as one of the best players in the current game?

Not on last night's performance, that's for sure.

The Irish did a fine job of strangling the real dynamo in the Wallabies, Will Genia. Their loose forwards were outstanding in that department and with the weigh they contained the Wallabies' work around the fringes.

It was left to Kurtley Beale to be the main attacking threat. But a one-man band was never going to be enough against the total commitment and 15-man effort of the Irish.

It would be foolish to write the Australians off, such is their talent and their penchant for one-off performances. But again, their lack of consistency in the Deans era has reared its head.

We Kiwis shouldn't be too smug though -- even those at Eden Park and around the country that cheered on the Irish at the Australian expense.

Of course a lot of that comes back to the Cooper factor and his apparent delight at being public enemy No 1 here. He has almost singlehandedly brought a tidal wave of New Zealand support against the Australians at this tournament, no matter what match they attend. The Irish were more than happy to ride that wave of black and green to victory.

But there were some lessons for the All Blacks from this first upset of the tournament.

As the Wallabies showed with the absence of Pocock, the All Blacks might just be one injury away from disaster in the form of inspirational No 7 Richie McCaw.

And the Irish pack showed that at World Cups, pure passion and ferocity needs to accompany the simple skills of the game.