Home teamAustraliaAway teamIrelandVenueAllianz StadiumCompetitionRugby Nations ChampionshipKick-off time11:10 (UK and Ireland)Watch Live in the UKITV
Australia vs Ireland preview as the sides meet at the Allianz Stadium in Sydney.
This game will be the first game ever for both sides in the Rugby Nations Championship.
Australia start their 2026 with a home World Cup in the picture next year. Their only win in the Autumn came against Japan, and they lost each of their final games in the Rugby Championship.
Ireland started the Six Nations with a loss to France and then went on to win the final four. A Thomas Ramos kick in the final moments for France cost them the title, but Ireland did win the Triple Crown
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Australia vs Ireland confirmed lineups
AustraliaIrelandForwardsBell1O’TooleNasser2SheehanAlaalatoa3FurlongWilliams4McCarthyCanham5RyanValetini6C PrendergastMcReight7Van der FlierWilson8ConanBacksLonergan9Gibson-ParkGordon10S PrendergastPietsch11OsborneIkitau12McCloskeySuaalii13RingroseJorgensen14BaloucouneCampbell15KeenanReplacementsPaenga-Amosa16KelleherSlipper17LoughmanTupou18ClarksonShaw19BeirneHooper20TimoneyMcDermott21CaseyDonaldson22FrawleyWright23Aki
Recent Form:
Australia (Home team):
ResultDateCompetitionOpponentScoreLoss22nd November 2025FriendlyFrance46-33Loss15th November 2025FriendlyIreland46-19Loss8th November 2025FriendlyItaly26-19Loss1st November 2025FriendlyEngland25-7Won25th October 2025FriendlyJapan15-19
Australia finished the Lions series on a high, winning the third test in 2025 and started the Rugby Championship with a huge win over the Springboks. In the 10 games since then, the Wallabies have only won two games, coming by four points against Japan and Argentina. In their final game, they lost 48-33 to France. It was level at halftime, but the second half saw France score four, while Australia scored two.
Ireland (Away team):
ResultDateCompetitionOpponentScoreWon14th March 2026Six NationsScotland43-21Won6th March 2026Six NationsWales27-17Won21st February 2026Six NationsEngland21-42Won14th February 2026Six NationsItaly20-13Loss5th February 2026Six NationsDrance36-14
Ireland finished the Six Nations in second with the Triple Crown. They finished the campaign with a great win over Scotland, who had defeated France the week before. The performance was probably their best of the Six Nations and scored six tries to win the Triple Crown in what felt like a comfortable manner.
Australia vs Ireland head-to-head record (last five matches):
DateCompetitionWinnerScore15th November 2025FriendlyIreland46-1930th November 2024FriendlyIreland22-1919th November 2022FriendlyIreland13-1023rd June 2018FriendlyIreland16-2016th June 2018FriendlyIreland21-26
Ireland won the last five meetings with Australia and it is traditionally a close match. Ireland won the meeting in November comfortably, but the four wins before that came by five points or less.