Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll was left ruing his side's mistakes after their 18-12 defeat by Australia in their one-off Test in Melbourne.

The Irish enjoyed 63% of possession and made six line breaks to their opponents' two but could not turn that dominance into victory.

Both sides scored two tries - Berrick Barnes and James Horwill crossing for the Wallabies and Denis Leamy and O'Driscoll for Ireland - but Matt Giteau's two penalties eventually proved the difference to leave O'Driscoll frustrated.

"We had a lot of possession and you can't say we didn't have our opportunities, because we did," O'Driscoll said.

"A couple of tries we conceded in the first half we probably didn't make them work hard enough for them and when you are dogging it out and working so hard, it is soul destroying when you give up easy tries like that.

"But we hung in there and gave ourselves a chance to snatch it there at the end. It was something that we said that we wanted, to play an 80-minute performance or a 90-minute performance, whatever it took and you can't deny the lads it was certainly that.

"We just lacked a bit of that clinical touch at times and we were made to pay for it."

Ireland had numerous chances to snatch victory in the closing 15 minutes of the game, but made some sloppy mistakes with the try line in sight.

"When you are playing sides like the Wallabies, they have to go to hand those last passes," O'Driscoll said.

"Little pops here and there that went to deck and on another day they may have stuck to hand and created more opportunities and it just wasn't to be and that is where the frustration is.

"We still managed to score a nice try in that second half that got us back into the game but with the amount we created it was small returns."

Despite a second loss in a week following last weekend's 21-11 defeat by New Zealand, O'Driscoll believes there were many positives to come out of Ireland's two southern hemisphere Tests.

O'Driscoll singled out Robert Kearney, Stephen Ferris and James Heaslip for their performances against the Wallabies and feels everything bodes well for the future when Declan Kidney takes over as coach on the side's return home.

"There were parts of our game that I felt were very pleasing, but there is also plenty of room for improvement," O'Driscoll said.

"I think when you know you have a base to work off, it just has to be produced on a more constant basis.

"A few times the ball went down when it should have stuck and that will be something we will look to improve on."

At 29 years of age, O'Driscoll may be heading into the twilight of his career, but the hard-working skipper still has his sights set on winning more trophies.

"You don't judge yourself on caps or tries, you judge yourself on silverware," O'Driscoll said.

"To date I have won a couple of Magners League (titles), three triple crowns but that is it. Essentially, I want to win a European Cup, I want to win a Grand Slam and, god forbid, I want to win a World Cup.

"There's no harm setting your standards nice and high because if you set them low and you achieve them you will disappoint yourself.

"There is still a few more years to go for me and hopefully I will get some more opportunities."

Australia were playing their first match under Robbie Deans, and he said: "We created pressure, but we just lacked that bit of cohesion.

"Obviously the performance wasn't flawless and clearly the guy's legs were pretty heavy at the end, but it was never going to be perfect first-up."

Australia's defence held firm during a hectic final 15 minutes of the match, with Ireland peppering the hosts continually, but often failing at the final hurdle.

Deans said the win was not pretty, but it showed him that the team had plenty of character by holding off Ireland in the final quarter of the game.

"It was their last outing and they were always going to throw everything at us," Deans said.

"The Irish played well. They asked a lot of us they profited on a couple of occasions pretty easily which put us under pressure in terms of closing the game out. But the guys hung in there well."

Although Ireland dominated many of the important statistics, Deans said his team deserved to win the game.

"It's a Test win and you have got to work hard for Test wins," he said.

"History doesn't recall the detail, it just recalls the score and we are delighted to get home. You don't get home without earning it and I think we earned it. You can look at moments, both sides had opportunities, but at the end of the day it doesn't matter."

Australia now have two weeks off before facing France in Sydney.

Deans thinks the French team will come to Australia full of confidence, but he expects his side to improve.

"We are clearly going to be better for that outing," Deans said.

"There were elements that the French will probably look at and get pretty excited about, but we will work on those."

"We have got a couple off weeks to do that now and we will be better for it."

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