Preamble
Afternoon folks. Let’s start with some less-than-wise words.
What will be the cost of the continued indulgence of O’Driscollthrough declining form in the latter years? Like the Indian cricket team carrying Sachin Tendulkar, there were whispers that, while no one could begrudge him an extended farewell, it might be to the detriment of the team in the long-term. There are only 313 days until the World Cup kicks off and Ireland, with a draw that gives them their best ever chance of making an impact, are in transition.
Well this is all going rather well for Ireland, isn’t it? Unbeaten since their Six Nations triumph earlier this year, two wins out of two on a tough tour to Argentina, one of their greatest ever performances in victory over South Africa two weeks ago and a comfortable-enough 49-7 win over difficult opponents Georgia for their second string last Sunday. Crisis? Transition? Pah! Ireland are, to the surprise of many (English) observers, the best-looking northern hemisphere side ahead of the World Cup.
Their opponents today are resurgent/in crisis (delete as appropriate) Australia. “We haven’t got a hope in hell,” says my colleague Ian McCourt, but the feeling among the neutrals is that Ian is being just the tiniest bit pessimistic. It’s not just that Australia’s results have been patchy lately – defeats to France and Argentina, a win in Cardiff and oh-so-nearly beating the All Blacks – but rather where their strengths lie. Their back division is probably the most exciting in world rugby, but Ireland’s best performances, such as those against Wales earlier this year and South Africa this autumn, have been based on throttling the life out of teams and removing opposition backs from the equation.
Australia’s hopes lie solely with Ireland’s half-backs, you would think. Although their two props, James Slipper and Sekope Kepu, made Opta’s team of the Rugby Championship, no one really expects them to compete with Ireland’s pack of granite monoliths in the set piece. You would therefore expect Johnny Sexton and Conor Murray to have to have very bad days, miss touch and kick to the lethal Australian back three for the visitors to be able to play to their strengths today. This is unlikely to happen.
Kick-off is at 4.30pm. The problem this creates, or rather that some idiot in charge of scheduling has created, is that it overlaps with the not-inconsiderable prospect of Wales v New Zealand. I’ll keep you updated with events there, because I’m afraid of the abuse I may get from Welsh fans otherwise nice like that. Here are your teams:
Ireland: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Robbie Henshaw, 12 Gordon D’Arcy, 11 Simon Zebo, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Conor Murray. 1 Jack McGrath, 2 Rory Best, 3 Mike Ross, 4 Devin Toner, 5 Paul O’Connell (c), 6 Peter O’Mahony, 7 Rhys Ruddock, 8 Jamie Heaslip.
Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Dave Kilcoyne, 18 Rodney Ah You, 19 Dave Foley, 20 Tommy O’Donnell, 21 Eoin Reddan, 22 Ian Madigan, 23 Felix Jones.
Australia: 15 Israel Folau, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Tevita Kuridriani, 12 Matt Toomua, 11 Henry Speight, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Nick Phipps. 1 James Slipper, 2 Saia Fainga’a, 3 Sekope Kepu, 4 Sam Carter, 5 Rob Simmons, 6 Luke Jones, 7 Michael Hooper (c), 8 Ben McCalman.
Replacements: 16 James Hanson, 17 Tetera Faulkner, 18 Benn Robinson, 19 Will Skelton, 20 Jake Schatz, 21 Will Genia, 22 Quade Cooper, 23 Kurtley Beale.
Dan will be here imminently.
