Doris: Both Teams Want A ‘Big Reaction’

Ireland captain Caelan Doris expects both teams to look for a ‘big reaction’ to last weekend’s results and performances when the Wallabies come to the Aviva Stadium on Saturday night.

Under the watchful eye of former Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt, Australia will aim to bounce back from their defeat to Italy, while Andy Farrell’s men will be looking to prove a point as well. Doris said:

I think we’ll be looking for a big reaction off the back of last weekend. Australia have obviously had a couple of defeats in a row now which is unlike them. We’re expecting a big reaction.

“We’re expecting them to have a lot of hunger in how they play. It’s towards the end of a long season for them now, so they’ll be looking to try and finish on a high.

“I’m sure he (Schmidt) is trying to boost morale early in the week, trying to focus on both areas of improvement but also what they’re good at.

“I’m sure he’s showing signs of how good they’ve been over the last number of months really, having beaten the Lions, having beaten South Africa and Argentina.

“They’ve put in some big performances along the way, so I’m sure there’s still a lot of belief there despite the last couple of weekends.”

He added: “We’re chasing the best performance of the campaign and the year this weekend. All areas can improve, it was probably the consistency at which we delivered things wasn’t quite there last weekend.

“Definitely improvements in the last 20 to 30 minutes, but we need more of that throughout the whole game from attack, defence, and of course set-pieces as well.”