Jimmy O'Brien and Jamison Gibson-Park earn starting berths against Australia as Ireland coach Andy Farrell reverts to all but two of the starting XV which faced South Africa
But he is much more inclined to overlook their defeat by Italy last week and instead focus on how the core of this side nearly beat France two weeks ago as well as beating the Springboks and being cruelly denied a famous comeback win over the All Blacks in September.“It’s been a great week for us, it’s like the South Africa week and there is a good majority of our players who have never played against Australia before and don’t quite know the mentality of the Australian team,” Farrell added.
In making eight changes to the starting line-up from last week’s laboured win over Fiji, Farrell himself has reverted to all but two of the starting XV which played against South Africa almost a fortnight ago. The pack remains the same for a fifth Test running against the southern hemisphere big three, albeit there is one change in the back-up forwards, with the uncapped 21-year-old Joe McCarthy replacing Kieran Treadwell on the bench, where Craig Casey and Jack Crowley are joined by Bundee Aki.
Albert Tuisue’s red card was the fourth time a team opposing Ireland have suffered a red card this year. Yet while Farrell’s side have made a determined effort to control their tackle height, it is something that needs constant reinforcing. “It’s something we’ve been pretty good at for a decent amount of time now but keeping that message fresh is super important because of the way the game is at the minute.”
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