Ireland will enter their final game of 2022 as warm favourites when hosting Australia at the Aviva Stadium next Saturday night (kick-off 8pm). The Wallabies suffered their fifth defeat in their last six games when Italy recorded an historic 28-17 win over Dave Rennie’s side in Florence on Saturday but arguably Australia’s results bely the threat they could pose to Andy Farrell’s side.
Not alone did Ben Donaldson miss a conversion with the last kick of the match to win the game, but Rennie made 11 changes to the side which had lost 30-29 to France the previous weekend in Paris, giving debuts to Mark Nawaqanitawase and Donaldson.
Rennie is likely to revert to the bulk of the side which extended France all the way and were only beaten by a moment of magic by the world-class Damian Penaud.
“You look at their side and they made plenty of changes probably looking at us this week,” noted Andy Farrell after Saturday’s uninspired 35-17 win over Fiji last Saturday.
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“I know that it’ll be a tough enough week at the start of the week, but it will certainly focus the mind,” added the Irish coach in reference to the Monday morning review of the performance against Fiji
“We know what’s coming. Looking at the [Australian] performance with a similar side that is probably going to be put out against us in Paris last week, is probably more like it. They were very strong; especially set-piece-wise they went after the French and nearly got the big ‘W’ over there. That’s the type of game we’re expecting.”
The 8pm kick-off for another sell-out should make for an interesting atmosphere, when Ireland can equal the all-time Irish record of 12 successive home wins achieved under Joe Schmidt between 2016 and 2018
“It will be rowdy enough because we’ve got to play our part in that. I was delighted to see the crowd doing the Mexican wave at the end,” he added with a heavy dose of irony. “I don’t think we had much to do with that to be honest, so we’ve got to make sure that we play our part next week.”
It will be in stark contrast to last Saturday’s 1pm kick-off, although that offered no excuse.
“It shows your mentality, where you’re at. It shows your character as a group. We’ve learned a little bit in that regard,” said Farrell, intimating not much of that was of the positive variety.
The easy conclusion, yet again, to draw is that Ireland simply are not the same, and certainly not as well-organised in attack, when Johnny Sexton isn’t there to organise things, but that was too simplistic in Farrell’s view.
“No, it’s not just Johnny. Look at it all, the experience that is out of the side. Not just the injured lads,” he said in relation to James Ryan and Peter O’Mahony as well as Sexton, “it’s Bundee (Aki), Iain Henderson, Keith Earls not being here.
“Whoever it is, certain people understand their role and their fit in the side. They’re able to be themselves and go after that; they are comfortable in their own skins. When you’re missing so much, then people know they need to try to fill that vacuum but they need the experience of being able to do that at the same time. Again, at least we know where we’re at.”
Farrell could scarcely conceal his annoyance with the Irish display, although he maintained with a wry smile that there was no need to read the riot act in the dressing-room. “They know, they 100 per cent know.”
None of Sexton, Ryan, Andrew Porter, Josh van der Flier and Hugo Keenan trained last week, and to compound this, while hamstrings are notoriously tricky, the gamble on Robbie Henshaw didn’t pay out. Henshaw either aggravated his hamstring in his first carry or when extended in Ireland’s stretched defence for Fiji’s first try and now, although there was no tear, he seems highly unlikely to be involved against Australia. Aki is available after completing his seven-week suspension, and has been training fully with the Irish squad in this window.
Furthermore, of course, Joey Carbery went off for a HIA - as did Jimmy O’Brien late on - the Munsterman not to return after the dangerous and reckless high hit by Albert Tuisue which earned Fiji yet another red card, despite the astonishing, and worrying, protestations of their coach Vern Cotter.
“Was there foul play?” he suggested. Eh, yes, most definitely!
Iain Henderson trained last week for the first time since recovering from his knee operation, and the IRFU will issue an update at lunchtime on Monday, albeit it is unlikely to be too definitive.
