Ireland beat Australia in a thriller that featured five tries in the first half and secured their first November series sweep in eight years to lay down a marker for next year's World Cup.

Since Joe Schmidt took charge just over a year ago, Ireland have beaten South Africa, narrowly missed out on a first victory over New Zealand and won the Six Nations, but their latest scalp may be their most hard fought yet. The hosts led 17-0 after 14 minutes thanks to tries from wings Simon Zebo and Tommy Bowe, but Australia replied with three of their own to square it up at half time before fly-half Jonathan Sexton kicked his side to victory in a bruising second period.

Captain Paul O'Connell said: "We haven't finished games really well so to keep them out was very satisfying. It's a brilliant win against a great side."

Ireland took up where they left off against the Springboks, their aggressive defence not handing the visitors an inch. Aware of his surroundings as ever, fly-half Sexton found space in behind following a turnover and Zebo won a race to collect his pin-point kick and dive over. Setting the tone for what was to unfold, Australia came right back only for Bowe to intercept what looked a certain try for the visitors and run the length of the field to put Ireland 17-0 ahead.

The home side were rampant, but some hesitant defending following a Nick Phipps interception let the scrum-half run clean through to grab a vital seven points for the Wallabies.

The Australians seized the momentum with a second, albeit controversial, try. After debutant Henry Speight was denied in the corner, Bernard Foley collected what appeared to be a forward pass, with question marks too over the grounding of the ball, but the touchdown was awarded.

Barely half an hour had passed before the game had its fifth try with some more porous tackling from the Irish but some equally slick passing from the Australians allowing Phipps in for his second effort. Foley, who had kicked flawlessly during the tour, missed his second relatively easy conversion in a row to keep the scores level.

He then made no mistake with a penalty in front of the posts minutes later but neither did Sexton as a breathless half ended 20-20. The try count did not keep up early in the second period, but the pace did with Sexton and Foley exchanging penalties in the opening 10 minutes and Irish full-back Rob Kearney hitting the post with a drop goal from near halfway. Sexton succeeded with a penalty from the same spot two minutes later to nudge the hosts back in front, a position they retained to the end.

Immediately after the game, Schmidt was taken to hospital with suspected appendicitis.