Head coach Joe Schmidt has reshuffled his deck for Ireland’s crunch second Test clash with Australia in Melbourne, as they look to level the series and set up a winner-takes-all decider for the Lansdowne Cup next Saturday.
2018 SUMMER TOUR SECOND TEST: Saturday, June 16
AUSTRALIA v IRELAND, AAMI Park, Melbourne, 8.05pm local time/11.05am Irish time (live Sky Sports Action/RTÉ Radio 1/IRFU Live Blog)
Team News: There are eight personnel changes and one positional switch to the Ireland team that lost 18-9 to the Wallabies in Brisbane last weekend, with the uncapped Tadhg Beirne and scrum half John Cooney, who has one cap to date, also added to the bench.
The starting pack has alterations across all three lines, including an all-new front row of Cian Healy, who wins his 80th cap, Niall Scannell, who comes in for his fourth Test start, and Tadhg Furlong. Devin Toner’s return makes it an all-Leinster second row pairing with James Ryan.
Dan Leavy swaps in for the benched Jordi Murphy at openside flanker, joining captain Peter O’Mahony and CJ Stander and reuniting the back row trio that started against Wales, Scotland and England in the latter rounds of the Six Nations.
Jonathan Sexton, Garry Ringrose and Andrew Conway are reintroduced in the back-line, taking over at out-half, outside centre and on the right wing respectively. Ringrose, who was a try scorer against Australia in November 2016, pairs up with Robbie Henshaw who shifts infield to wear the number 12 jersey.
Sexton wins his 75th cap, taking the out-half reins from the benched Joey Carbery, while Munster wingers Andrew Conway and Keith Earls, who has come through the return-to-play protocols, link up with Rob Kearney – the most-capped member of the matchday squad with 84 caps – in the back-three.
Conway touched down on his last Test start on the wing, against South Africa last November, and his future Munster team-mate, Tadhg Beirne, is poised to make his Ireland debut off the bench. Replacement scrum half John Cooney, a real talisman for Ulster this season, could win his second cap almost exactly year on from his first against Japan.
Commenting on the team selection and the players nursing ‘niggly’ injuries, head coach Joe Schmidt said: “A couple of guys are carrying niggles. Bundee Aki has that ankle and that’s kind of niggled away at him. He is able to play, but we’ll leave him out this weekend.
“Iain Henderson twisted his knee a little bit, again it’s just niggly. There’s a few other guys who didn’t train on Tuesday, they were just a bit sore really. It was a relatively physical game last week, some of those contacts. Some of (the players who didn’t train on Tuesday) are starting and some of them aren’t, most of them trained, but some of them didn’t. We kept them out of the contact really.
“Andrew Conway didn’t get to play in the Six Nations, he was injured, but did a great job in November. It’s a great opportunity for him. Jacob (Stockdale) was a guy who didn’t train on Tuesday, he’s just a little sore. He’s fully fit but we’ll give Andrew an opportunity this week.
“Jordan (Larmour) gives us cover in the back-three and in midfield as well, so hence he’s on the bench and we’ll give Jacob a chance to get himself right potentially for next week (in Sydney).”
He added: “It is a good mix. Tadhg (Furlong) and Cian came off the bench last week and they were disappointed they didn’t see through the positive end-game we were looking for. Johhny always brings organisation up front, so I know that he will be enthusiastic. Garry Ringrose did a fantastic job in the last two games of Six Nations. He will be looking to hit the ground running.
“Niall Scannell played right through the Six Nations last year for us, so he’s a guy who, when he got his opportunity (to start against Italy) when Rory Best was unwell, did a super job for us. We’re giving him another opportunity to impress.
“With Niall, he’s a good scrummaging hooker and that will add a little bit to an area where we weren’t as strong as we normally are. It is a real opportunity for him to probably galvanise that pack and take a step forward at scrum time.”
The second Test between Ireland and Australia will be broadcast live on Sky Sports (TV) and RTE 2fm (radio). Ireland supporters can follow all the news from the summer tour here on IrishRugby.ie and via the IRFU’s social media channels.
Meanwhile, Australia head coach Michael Cheika has named an unchanged matchday squad to take on Ireland in the series’ second Test, opting against bringing in Ned Hanigan (knee) or Rory Arnold (suspension).
It is the first time since taking over the Wallabies reins in 2014 that Michael Cheika has kept the same 23 two weeks in-a-row. Hooker Brandon Paenga-Amosa is retained as the forwards look to shore up a somewhat inconsistent lineout when they arrive in Melbourne.
His fellow Brisbane debutant Caleb Timu has held off Pete Samu and Hanigan to keep his spot at number 8, combining with David Pocock and Michael Hooper in the back row. With heavy rain expected on Saturday night, Cheika has kept a six-two split on the bench as well.
“I think first game of the season, we had a rush, we crammed a lot last week, so I’d just like to give those guys another opportunity to get out there with the understanding of being together for another three or for days and try and do better,” he said.
“I think we need to raise the bar on ourselves, on our own standards this week to give ourselves a chance of winning the game.”
Allan Alaalatoa is still struggling to shake a sprained ankle, while Hanigan was available, and Cheika hinted he would be in the mix for the third Test, adding: “Ned was available, he had a full week’s training, so that’s good. He’ll get himself, I’m sure, in the frame. He got stuck into it in the physical stuff this week and I’m sure when he gets the full contact into him next week. He’ll be a good option to play probably.”
AUSTRALIA: Israel Folau (NSW Waratahs); Dane Haylett-Petty (Melbourne Rebels), Samu Kerevi (Queensland Reds), Kurtley Beale (NSW Waratahs), Marika Koroibete (Melbourne Rebels); Bernard Foley (NSW Waratahs), Will Genia (Melbourne Rebels); Scott Sio (Brumbies), Brandon Paenga-Amosa (Queensland Reds), Sekope Kepu (NSW Waratahs), Izack Rodda (Queensland Reds), Adam Coleman (Melbourne Rebels), David Pocock (Brumbies), Michael Hooper (NSW Waratahs) (capt), Caleb Timu (Queensland Reds).
Replacements: Tolu Latu (NSW Waratahs), Tom Robertson (NSW Waratahs), Taniela Tupou (Queensland Reds), Rob Simmons (NSW Waratahs), Lukhan Tui (Queensland Reds), Pete Samu (Brumbies), Nick Phipps (NSW Waratahs), Reece Hodge (Melbourne Rebels).
IRELAND: Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster); Andrew Conway (Garryowen/Munster), Garry Ringrose (UCD/Leinster), Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Leinster), Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster); Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary’s College/Leinster), Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster); Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster), Niall Scannell (Dolphin/Munster), Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster), James Ryan (UCD/Leinster), Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster), Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster) (capt), Dan Leavy (UCD/Leinster), CJ Stander (Shannon/Munster).
Replacements: Rob Herring (Ballynahinch/Ulster), Jack McGrath (St. Mary’s College/Leinster), Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster), Tadhg Beirne (Scarlets), Jordi Murphy (Lansdowne/Leinster), John Cooney (Terenure College/Ulster), Joey Carbery (Clontarf/Leinster), Jordan Larmour (St. Mary’s College/Leinster).
Referee: Paul Williams (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees: Pascal Gaüzère (France), Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa)
Television Match Official: Ben Skeen (New Zealand)
Match Odds (Paddy Power): Australia to win: Evens; Draw: 16/1; Ireland to win: Evens
Pre-Match Quotes: Peter O’Mahony (Ireland) – “Fellas are frustrated and upset, it was a (winning) record we wanted to hold on to. But we’re a team that understands that when something like that happens we have got to improve.
“It was up to us to have a good look at the game and see what areas we need to improve on. We understand that we were beaten by a better team last Saturday and we’re going to have to put in a performance that has been better than any we’ve put in over the last 18 months to beat this Australia team.
“The quality they have in their game-plan, they’re one of the best teams in the world and have to up our game from the standards we set in the Six Nations, which we certainly didn’t do last week.
“Australia are one of the best teams in the world and every time you go out you want to better your last performance. They’ve had another week now to gel together, to build on it and we’ve no doubt that they’ll be better than last week which is something that we have to prepare for and deal with.
“It’s not that we’re saying we want to finish the season with this or that. We want to better our performance every week and that’s what we’ve been focusing on. We knew our performance wasn’t up to scratch last week, we’d a good look at the areas we need to improve on and there was quite a few, which hasn’t happened us in a while. But we’ve taken those learnings, tried to work on them during the week and hopefully that pays off on the weekend.”
Michael Hooper (Australia) – “If you’re doing the same thing, you’ve got to raise the bar on how you’re doing it. If we’re going to kick, if we’re going to run, it’s about doing it, the attention to detail being even better and the urgency being a level better than it was last week, because they’re going to expect it.
“Everyone’s going to be 30 cm, a metre closer to the ball because they’re assuming it’s going to happen, and (we’re) under no illusion these guys (Ireland) are a top team and the players within their team are fantastic. You’ve got to go up a level and not forget about the small things.
“(We’ve worked on our set piece game) a good amount, like a solid amount of time without getting bogged down in it,” he said. You’ve got to – it’s such a huge area of the game. We weren’t happy with…we think we can get better in the scrum, and we definitely can get better in the lineout just with our sharpness.
“A couple of things there, the rust and new things being added that probably didn’t work to how we (would’ve) liked to launch our attack last week. So, we spent a good amount of time without getting too bogged down in, not wasting time, but forgetting about the other things.”
Pre-Match Links –
Head-To-Head: Ireland v Australia
Ireland Down Under: Robbie Henshaw On Training In Melbourne
Ireland Down Under: Andy Farrell On ‘Getting Right’ For The Second Test
Ireland Down Under: Jonathan Sexton On ‘Getting Our Process Right’
Recent Meetings –
2014: GUINNESS Series: Ireland 26 Australia 23, Aviva Stadium
2016: GUINNESS Series: Ireland 27 Australia 24, Aviva Stadium
2018: Summer Tour First Test: Ireland 18 Australia 9, Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Support Ireland on www.irishrugby.ie/facebook or search #AUSvIRL, #TeamOfUs and #ShouldertoShoulder on www.twitter.com/irishrugby.
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