Tommy Bowe tries to snatch a loose ball on a night of few chances for Ireland © Getty Images

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Joe Schmidt insists Ireland have a few harsh lessons to learn after they were thoroughly outplayed in the 32-15 defeat to Australia at the Aviva Stadium.

The new Ireland boss watched his side ship four tries to a clinical Australia side, who forced the hosts to kick repeatedly to dangerous full-back Israel Folau - who was a threat all night with over 100 metres ball carrying. Ireland had gone in trailing by just three points at half time but only added a penalty after the interval as the tourists ran away with the game in the second period.

It was a grim reality check for Schmidt, who was in charge for just his second game at the Ireland helm. Losing Jonathan Sexton at half-time did not help the home side's cause - though Ian Madigan did admirably in his stead - and as the error-count built up after the interval it was difficult to see whether Ireland can threaten New Zealand next week in the same manner England did.

Australia brutally exposed Ireland's defensive frailties on several occasions and Schmidt believes this is the area they need to work on if they are to get anything out of next week's clash against an All Blacks side unbeaten in 2013.

Schmidt told The Irish Times: "I think it was more than the defence, we probably didn't kick as well as we needed to. We often had to kick under pressure and I thought Israel Folau was very dominant in the air and it didn't allow us to get any ball back when we were trying to clear our own area.

"We know how good they [New Zealand] are, we knew how good the Australians were and all we can do is prepare as best we can. That will start with trying to recover from this game over the next 48 hours and then trying to get together and have a look what we need to improve on and then try and forge ahead from there.

"We struggled a bit at set piece, turned over our first lineout, turned over another one when we had the opportunity to drive at the line and maybe get back into the game.

"I felt just before half-time we'd fought our way back into the game. The defending wasn't good enough for their two tries but from 15-3 we fought our way back to 15-12.

"After half-time losing Johnny didn't help our organisation, but saying that it's valuable experience for Ian Madigan. I thought he fought really hard in the position he was put into but unfortunately the result is what it is and the Australians deserved it.

"It's going to a very tough ask [against New Zealand] but there's a fair bit of character in the side and hopefully they come back and keep the supporters interested next week."

Ireland lost Sexton and then saw Rob Kearney limp off in the latter stages of the match as Australia's dominance took its toll on the hosts.

And while Schmidt admits he will not know about Sexton's availability for the All Blacks for a few days, he played down fears Ireland will be without Kearney against the world champions.

"It is a hamstring injury [for Sexton] and I'm not sure what grade of injury it is at the moment. We'll find that out over the next 48 hours I guess. Rob, I think he's okay, he was a little bit winded there and he's a bit tender in the ribs but I'm hopeful that he will be okay.

"I think at that stage we were looking to be more precautionary than leave him out there and put him at the risk of a knock."