Australia v Ireland: If Eddie O'Sullivan's selection of a team containing only one change from the side that extended the All Blacks and 11 of the team that lost to the Wallabies in November was a statement of intent, then so too was John Connolly's.

For all the eagerness to look at various options and blood players at the outset of a new era and in advance of the Tri-Nations, Connolly has made only three changes to the side that shredded England by 43-18 in Melbourne last Saturday.

Two of them are at least in part forced on him by injury, with Tai McIsaac and Guy Shepherdson coming into the front row for the sidelined Adam Freier and Rodney Blake.

George Gregan returns to start at scrumhalf in place of Sam Cordingley and will skipper the side after eclipsing Jason Leonard's record as the world's most capped player when playing in his 120th Test off the replacements' bench last weekend. His return means the Wallabies' potent and vastly experienced backline is effectively at full-strength.

McIsaac, a former water polo player with superior throwing to Freier's, was probably going to start anyway after an impressive debut in the first Test against England, but Shepherdson's scrummaging thus far in the club game or this season with the Brumbies suggests he is anything like a readymade panacea for the Wallabies' ills in this department.

Meanwhile, the former Leinster coach Gary Ella, who first moved Gordon D'Arcy to centre at the suggestion of Willie Anderson, has suggested Darcy's running threat is as good as O'Driscoll's.

Connolly himself has admitted the D'Arcy-O'Driscoll pairing is "right up there with the best".

In the context of what is shaping up to be a cracking Test, Australia's assistant coach Scott Johnson also spoke of the flair in the Mat Rogers-Stirling Mortlock partnership and said, "It's a pretty potent blend of talent at the weekend."

Nevertheless, referring to England's rather loose and inaccurate touchline-to-touchline game over the last two Saturdays, Connolly ventured, "The tradition of Irish rugby is a (much) tighter game and we expect that to continue", hinting his team will need to eliminate much of their own looseness against England.

AUSTRALIA (v Ireland): C Latham; M Gerrard, S Mortlock, M Rogers, L Tuqiri; S Larkham, G Gregan; G Holmes, T McIsaac, G Shepherdson; N Sharpe, D Vickerman; M Chisholm, G Smith, R Elsom.