Joe Schmidt's decision to field an experimental line-up at the weekend is a marker of how far Irish rugby has come in recent years.

Normally, a summer tour to any of Australia, South Africa or New Zealand would be treated with our strongest possible team selected in the hope of pulling off an unlikely victory. 

This year, Ireland arrived on Australian shores boasting a 12 match winning streak which included only our third ever Grand Slam.

Schmidt made six changes to the starting line-up which toppled England in Twickenham - changing his entire front row. Ireland performed gamely throughout but there's no argument that the better side won on the night.

The reaction in Australia has been one of jubilation: The Sydney Morning Herald ran with "Wallabies win rains good vibes on the game" while The Australian went with "Wallabies beat Ireland in Upset". Given the men in green haven't won a test match against Australia on their own home patch since 1979 - the headlines appear a little odd when you look at the history of this fixture. 

Granted Australian rugby is going through a rough patch at the moment with their Super Rugby sides routinely hosed by their New Zealand counter-parts but seeing their delight in a win over a water-downed Irish side displays our new standing in World rugby circles. 

In 2006, Jake White's South Africa were comprehensively beaten at Lansdowne Road 32-15 and the win was wildly celebrated as a watershed moment in the home side's history. 

The Springboks side that day included relative test newcomers such as Pierre Spies and Frans Steyn and Jake White maintained that this was the side he was going to win the next World Cup with - and he followed through on his promise less than a year later - while Ireland crashed out at the group stage. 

Schmidt was right to rotate his side and put some of his less experienced players under the most intense pressure. They will be the better for the run out and when you consider it was our experienced substitute players which failed to get us over the line - perhaps he should let the kids have another run in Melbourne with a few minor tweaks. 

The imbalance of the Irish back-row was exposed ruthlessly by Pocock and Hooper in Brisbane and fitting Dan Leavy and Tadhg Beirne into the starting line-up will probably be considered to negate the Australian fetchers. 

Whether Ireland win this series or not is not as important as blooding new players in the cauldron of test rugby and Schmidt should continue on the course he has set.