HAVING tormented Ireland in the first Test in Brisbane with his freakish aerial ability, Joe Schmidt’s side honed its attention on curtailing Israel Folau’s influence on the second Test — and it worked a treat.

In fact, Folau was limited to just 10 possessions in Melbourne, nine less than the first Test and seven short of his average across 64 Tests.

Interestingly, too, Folau fielded the ball eight times from kicks during the Wallabies’ first Test victory.

His stunning leap over Jacob Stockdale in Brisbane late in the second half turned the match in the Wallabies’ favour with David Pocock crashing over from close range soon after.

Before we look at how Ireland changed its tactics in the second Test, it’s interesting to note how Folau put himself in position to take Kurtley Beale’s up and under at Suncorp Stadium.

Beale kicked the ball from inside his 22 and Folau was on the right wing at the top of the screen on the 22m line, as you can see in the below image.

At this point, Stockdale (out of screen) is positioning himself under the ball, but neither of his two nearby teammates on the outside in Johnny Sexton (top left) and Bundee Aki (middle) have noticed Folau’s run and are jogging towards their teammate.

LIVE stream the Australia v Ireland June series on FOX SPORTS. SIGN UP NOW >

Israel Folau is allowed a free run in the lead up to leaping over Jacob Stockdale to secure a vital possession ahead of David Pocock's matchwinning try in Brisbane. Source: FOX SPORTS

As a result, Folau is allowed a free run to contest the ball as he comes from an angle back towards the middle of the ground, which allows him to continue running and not collide with Stockdale.

Israel Folau climbs over Jacob Stockdale from a Kurtley Beale up and under in the lead up to David Pocock's try in the first Test in Brisbane. Source: FOX SPORTS

But on Saturday, in the second Test, Folau didn’t catch the ball once from kicks.

Ironically, his quiet night occurred in the city in which AFL rules the roost and where the code hopping star learnt the tricks of his trade.

Those stark contrasts occurred for three main reasons.

First, the Wallabies’ kicking game was one of its worst in recent memory.

Even coach Michael Cheika slammed their wasteful kicking during a mid game interview with Fox Sports.

“I’d say not a little bit, I’d say a fair bit (off),” said Cheika, in response to Greg Martin’s observations on their kicking woes.

“Just there, again, we got ourselves in trouble because we didn’t get a kick away in the right zone, so we’ve got to fix that up as well and that will give us a bit more opportunity to get some field position.”

In his post match press conference, Cheika once again lamented his side’s poor kicking game.

In total, the Wallabies kicked the ball 10 times in general play (Kurtley Beale 6, Bernard Foley 3, Will Genia 1) not including Nick Phipps’ box kick, which was called back because New Zealand referee Paul Williams was playing advantage.

Of those 10 kicks, only Foley’s touch finder in the second half from his own goal line proved effective.

More often than not, the Wallabies’ up and unders were fractionally too long for Folau to run onto, but they were made to look worse than they were by the clever running lines of the Irish (more on that later).

Beale’s territorial kicks were easily marked on each occasion by Irish fullback Rob Kearney.

Additionally, Foley’s kick restarts (with the exception of when Marika Koroibete was off the field after being yellow carded) were too long and didn’t have the height to allow Folau to run onto, and most were easily taken by Devin Toner — the 2.10m giant.

Devin Toner is lifted to take a Bernard Foley kick restart. Source: FOX SPORTS

Secondly, Ireland seldom kicked the ball away.

Where they kicked 22 times to Australia’s 26 in the first Test, that number dropped drastically to 10 on Saturday.

Crucially, Ireland rarely kicked in the direction of Folau and instead kicked for space in the back field, to the touch line and tested Wallabies winger Dane Haylett-Petty under the high ball.

Another interesting point to note is that Folau was caught out of position on a number of occasions, which in part can be attributed to the clever tactics of Ireland.

Third, Ireland made the Wallabies’ kicks appear worse than they were through the canny running lines of their men when retreating back.

Of the Wallabies’ 10 kicks in general play, six were booted high for Folau to compete in the air.

On most occasions, Folau’s run from the right side of the field towards the ball was slowed by the shrewd work from Ireland’s wide men.

The following three kicks all clearly show the successful tactics employed by the Irish.

The first (see below) shows Foley kicking in almost the exact same position Beale did in Brisbane where Folau caught the ball above Stockdale.

Bernard Foley kicks from inside his 22 for Israel Folau Source: Getty Images

As Foley kicks, Garry Ringrose starts tracking back knowing his winger Keith Earls (out of screen) is in the backfield, with Folau looming at the top of the screen.

As the ball starts to come down, Ringrose is running back with his eyes fixed on Earls, with Folau watching the ball like a hawk on his outside.

Irish centre Garry Ringrose tracks back and has eyes for Keith Earls Source: FOX SPORTS

With Ringrose in the way, Folau can’t get to the up and under in time and Earls gets a free shot at taking the ball.

Folau's path to the ball is prevented as Garry Ringrose is standing in front of him. Source: FOX SPORTS

Later, in the opening seconds of the second half, Ringrose once again makes a nuisance of himself.

As you can see from the image below, even before halfback Nick Phipps has cleared the ball from the base of the ruck he’s already scanned Folau twice to see where he’s standing.

Garry Ringrose (bottom left) scanning to see where Israel Folau is positioned. Source: FOX SPORTS

He’s not the only player who is focusing his attention on Folau either, with man of the match Tadhg Furlong — a prop of all players — peering to his left to see Folau lurking on the wing.

Tadhg Furlong (No 3, third green from right) also looks to see where Israel Folau is positioned. Source: FOX SPORTS

As the ball is kicked high from Folau, both Ringrose and Furlong move towards the path of Folau, the ball and fullback Kearney.

Garry Ringrose and Tadhg Furlong track slowly towards the ball to deny Israel Folau a clear path. Source: FOX SPORTS

By the time the ball is on its descent, Folau has been forced to take his eyes off the ball and navigate his way through.

Rob Kearney is allowed an extra split second to settle himself under the ball with Israel Folau's path interfered by Garry Ringrose and Tadhg Furlong. Source: FOX SPORTS

Kearney takes the ball unchallenged in the air.

Ireland fullback Rob Kearney takes Kurtley Beale’s kick ahead of Israel Folau. Source: FOX SPORTS

But the next example is even more obvious and Folau’s path is clearly denied by Irish captain Peter O’Mahony in the 63rd minute.

With Beale on the right side of his field, O’Mahony (22m line) already knows that Folau (second left), who is standing opposite him, doesn’t have much angle to come from (see below).

Kurtley Beale with his final kick of the Test before being replaced. Source: FOX SPORTS

As the ball is kicked, he starts tracking back knowing Conor Murray, who moments earlier was standing outside him on the wing, is positioned under the ball.

As the ball starts its descent, O’Mahony stops just short of where Murray is stationed.

Israel Folau prepares to take his final steps towards the ball. Source: FOX SPORTS

With the ball metres above Murray, Folau runs into O’Mahony.

Israel Folau collides with Peter O’Mahony, leaving Conor Murray to take the ball. Source: FOX SPORTS

With Folau out of the picture, having crashed into O’Mahony, Murray takes the high ball safely.

Conor Murray takes Kurtley Beale’s up and under unchallenged. Source: FOX SPORTS

The clever tactics from Ireland didn’t go unnoticed by the Wallabies.

Asked on Sunday how the Wallabies could improve their kicking, Foley said they needed to make them contestable and noted the shrewd “escorting” from Ireland’s chasing defenders.

“I think maybe we were a little bit too far infield and a little too long last night, so that they were getting a free catch,” Foley said.

“They probably did well in escorting our chasers through and we’ve got to adjust that and see how better we can improve.”