Australia stand between Ireland and a first ever clean sweep of the southern Hemisphere’s ‘big three’ in the same calendar year. Michael Cheika’s Wallabies are in town on the occasion of Ireland captain Rory Best’s 100th appearance for his country.
2016 GUINNESS SERIES: Saturday, November 26
IRELAND v AUSTRALIA, Aviva Stadium, 5.30pm (live RTÉ 2/Sky Sports 2 HD/RTÉ Radio 1/IRFU Live Blog)
Team News: There are four changes to the Ireland team that started against New Zealand last Saturday. Garry Ringrose and Paddy Jackson start in place of the injured Robbie Henshaw and Jonathan Sexton, while Keith Earls comes onto the left wing and Iain Henderson starts in the second row.
Rory Best will win his 100th cap as he leads the team out on Saturday, becoming only the fifth Irish player to reach the century mark. Brian O’Driscoll (133), Ronan O’Gara (128), Paul O’Connell (108) and John Hayes (105) are the other players to reach 100 Ireland caps.
Hooker Best is joined in the front row by Jack McGrath and Tadhg Furlong, while Henderson partners Devin Toner in the second row. He started twice in the engine room during the summer tour of South Africa. The power-packed back row of CJ Stander, Sean O’Brien and Jamie Heaslip will get a second outing in the space of a week.
In the back-line, Conor Murray will partner Jackson at half-back with Ringrose making his second start of the GUINNESS Series, joining Jared Payne in the centre.
Earls, who has recovered from a dead leg, will reunite in the back-three with Andrew Trimble and full-back Rob Kearney, who, like Stander, went through the return-to-play protocols. The experienced trio are set to start together for the first time since last February’s Six Nations meeting with England.
Joey Carbery and Ultan Dillane come back onto the bench with Simon Zebo, following two starts against New Zealand, providing cover this week. Sean Cronin, Cian Healy, Finlay Bealham, Josh van der Flier and Kieran Marmion complete the squad.
Meanwhile, a number of regulars return to the Australia team after being mostly rested for last week’s 25-23 win over France in Paris.
Wallabies boss Michael Cheika has brought the likes of Israel Folau, Sekope Kepu, Dane Haylett-Petty, Reece Hodge and Rory Arnold back into the starting line-up as his side bid to keep their Grand Slam tour attempt alive.
Rob Simmons will combine with Arnold in the second row, continuing his resumption as Australia’s lineout caller, with Adam Coleman injured against Scotland.
Lopeti Timani has been a casualty of a greater lineout focus against Ireland, Cheika said, opting to bring Dean Mumm into the blindside flanker role, with Michael Hooper resuming his spot at openside and David Pocock at number 8.
Mumm was suspended for Australia’s clash with Wales and came off the bench in the second tour match against Scotland, with Cheika happy to lean towards Timani’s ball-carrying, but the balance has shifted for Ireland.
IRELAND: Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster); Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster), Jared Payne (Ulster), Garry Ringrose (UCD/Leinster), Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster); Paddy Jackson (Dungannon/Ulster), Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster); Jack McGrath (St. Mary’s College/Leinster), Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster) (capt), Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster), Iain Henderson (Ballynahinch/Ulster), Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster), CJ Stander (Shannon/Munster), Sean O’Brien (UCD/Leinster), Jamie Heaslip (Dublin University/Leinster).
Replacements: Sean Cronin (St. Mary’s College/Leinster), Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster), Finlay Bealham (Buccaneers/Connacht), Ultan Dillane (Corinthians/Connacht), Josh van der Flier (UCD/Leinster), Kieran Marmion (Corinthians/Connacht), Joey Carbery (Clontarf/Leinster), Simon Zebo (Cork Constitution/Munster).
AUSTRALIA: Israel Folau (Waratahs); Dane Haylett-Petty (Force), Tevita Kuridrani (Brumbies), Reece Hodge (Rebels), Henry Speight (Brumbies); Bernard Foley (Waratahs), Will Genia (Stade Francais); Scott Sio (Brumbies), Stephen Moore (Brumbies) (capt), Sekope Kepu (Waratahs), Rory Arnold (Brumbies), Rob Simmons (Reds), Dean Mumm (Waratahs), Michael Hooper (Waratahs), David Pocock (Brumbies).
Replacements: Tolu Latu (Waratahs), James Slipper (Reds), Allan Alaalatoa (Brumbies), Kane Douglas (Reds), Sean McMahon (Rebels), Nick Phipps (Waratahs), Quade Cooper (Reds), Sefanaia Naivalu (Rebels).
Referee: Jérôme Garcès (France)
Assistant Referees: JP Doyle, Craig Maxwell-Keys (both England)
Television Match Official: Eric Gauzins (France)
Match Odds (Paddy Power): Ireland to win: Evens; Draw: 20/1; Australia to win: Evens
Pre-Match Quotes: Rory Best (Ireland) – “I think it’s probably safe enough to say I didn’t ever anticipate this (getting to 100 caps). When you get your first cap for Ireland it’s like a dream come true, and all you want to do is get the next one. After that every time you get picked you feel unbelievably lucky.
“Then you tick quite close to 50 and you think ‘imagine getting to 50’. But now to be on the verge of 100 caps, it’s quite difficult to believe. I think it will probably be more important whenever I eventually do retire, which will hopefully be a while, and you sit back and look at everything you’ve achieved.
“But when I do look back this will rank up there as one of, if not the best, achievements I’ve had in the game. What these milestones do is show how the amount of support that is out there, not just for me but for the whole Irish team.
“With the way the Aussies have been going, especially the last three games of their northern Hemisphere tour (against Wales, Scotland and France), they’ve shown that they’re a real quality outfit. For us to finish a very tough autumn with three wins out of four would be a big boost, to back up the win against New Zealand.
“There was a lot of the performance last week we were happy with but ultimately we’re in the business of winning games. We want to go out on Saturday and perform. Whoever steps in, we expect them to step in seamlessly and perform. That’s how you grow a squad, grow competition and get results.”
Stephen Moore (Australia) – “When you get to this stage of the tour, you’ve been training hard and you’re played a few Test matches so that’s a big challenge for this team to be able to front up and play our best game of the tour.
“That’s something we’ve tried to address during the week, we’ve tried to keep our training as intense as we have all tour and we’re ready to play now on Saturday.
“I think if you look at the way Ireland have played over the last month, clearly (it’s) a huge challenge. I think they’re playing as well as they have for a while and they’ve shown that in Chicago and even last weekend, I know they didn’t get the result but they played some great rugby and their consistency was there. We’re going to have to play our best game of the tour to win.”
Pre-Match Links –
Head-To-Head: Ireland v Australia
In Pics: Ireland Captain’s Run At The Aviva Stadium
Irish Rugby TV: Conor Murray Previews Ireland v Australia
Ireland Ranked In Top Four Ahead Of Wallabies Clash
Recent Meetings –
2011: Rugby World Cup Pool C: Australia 6 Ireland 15, Eden Park, Auckland
2013: GUINNESS Series: Ireland 15 Australia 32, Aviva Stadium
2014: GUINNESS Series: Ireland 26 Australia 23, Aviva Stadium
Support Ireland on www.irishrugby.ie/facebook or search #TeamOfUs, #ShouldertoShoulder and #IREvAUS on www.twitter.com/irishrugby.
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