IRFU Live Blog: Ireland v Australia
Ireland take on Australia in the second game of the GUINNESS Series at the Aviva Stadium this evening (kick-off 5.45pm). You can keep up-to-date with the much-anticipated encounter via our live blog right here on IrishRugby.ie.
The Ireland v Australia clash will be the 31st meeting between the two sides, with the Wallabies having the upper hand so far with 20 wins to Ireland’s nine with one 20-all draw at Croke Park in 2009.
The last time these two sides met was during the pool stages of the 2011 Rugby World Cup when the men in green recorded a thrilling 15-6 victory in Auckland.
This evening’s encounter will be the 16th time Ireland and Australia have met at Lansdowne Road and the first at the reconstructed Aviva Stadium. Ireland lead Ireland with 10 wins at the Dublin 4 venue compared to five Irish successes.
Newly-appointed captain Paul O’Connell comes in as one of six changes to the Ireland team that beat Samoa 40-9, with Luke Marshall, Jonathan Sexton and Eoin Reddan starting in the backs and Cian Healy, O’Connell and Sean O’Brien introduced up front.
Ireland boast a more experienced starting line-up with a total of 672 caps compared to Australia’s 518. The hosts also field an older team with an average age of 29 compared to Australia’s 26.
Ireland have two starting players with less than ten caps – second row Toner and centre Marshall, while the Wallabies have three members of their team with less than ten caps – centres Tevita Kuridrani and Matt Toomua and flanker Scott Fardy.
The Ireland front row of Rory Best, Healy and Mike Ross make their 22nd start together at Test level, joining the Scotland trio of Allan Jacobsen, Ross Ford and Euan Murray as the fifth most-capped front row combination of all-time.
The Australian front row of current head coach Ewen McKenzie along with Phil Kearns and Tony Daly hold the all-time record for a front row combination with 36 starts.
The last four matches between Ireland and the Wallabies have been tight affairs, as can be seen with an average of 5.5 points splitting the teams.
The last time Ireland gained two consecutive victories over the Wallabies was in June 1979, a 9-3 triumph in Sydney and a 27-12 verdict in Brisbane.
Joe Schmidt’s men moved up two places in the IRB World Rankings to sixth thanks to their 40-9 defeat of Samoa. A second GUINNESS Series success would be enough to lift them above France into fifth position.
We will have live text commentary direct from the Aviva Stadium so reach for your phone, plug in your laptop or turn on the PC and enjoy a flavour of the game live on IrishRugby.ie.
There will be full live text and score updates throughout the coverage, with our pre-match build-up getting underway at 5.15pm.
The game is being broadcast live on RTÉ Two and BBC Two, with RTÉ Radio 1 providing live radio commentary. Details of the global broadcasts are available here.
You can feel part of the action on IrishRugby.ie with our live matchday coverage – the second GUINNESS Series Test kicks off at 5.45pm.
Look out for the MatchDay Live button in the Ireland section or simply click on the link below:
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