{"id":134349,"date":"2025-11-15T07:44:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T07:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/134349\/"},"modified":"2025-11-15T07:44:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T07:44:11","slug":"after-lions-tour-and-last-autumn-nations-wallabies-now-well-versed-with-ireland-players-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/134349\/","title":{"rendered":"After Lions tour and last Autumn Nations, Wallabies \u2018now well versed with Ireland players\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s 7.50am on Friday. The high-pitched whine is an audible reminder of the wind that buffets the doors of the Radisson hotel in Stillorgan, Co Dublin; the slanting rain being the second element in a two-pronged assault. A seagull seeks shelter under an awning. Joe Schmidt<\/a> bids farewell to a friend in the lobby, stopping briefly for a chat. Australia will soon make the short hop to Blackrock for their Captain\u2019s Run. <\/p>\n

Upstairs, Wallabies<\/a> skipper Harry Wilson holds court, an engaging interviewee. There are no Australian journalists present, instead a couple take to the online portal. It\u2019ll be a slow day in every respect, once the on-pitch run-though is over. Coffee and Netflix get a mention, the staples for a team confined to base.<\/p>\n

Both Wilson and Schmidt mentioned last year\u2019s clash between the countries, a game the Wallabies led until the final eight minutes<\/a>, when Ireland<\/a> pilfered a 22-19 win. Andy Farrell<\/a>\u2019s side have eight survivors in the run-on team, Australia, nine, so there are enough points of difference not to get bogged down by historical reference. <\/p>\n

Wilson pointed out that between last November\u2019s meeting and the Lions<\/a> series the Wallabies have become well versed with the Ireland players. Wilson was asked about one of them, Jack Conan<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a really good ball carrier, a strong ball carrier, which you definitely felt during that Lions series. He\u2019s quite good in the lineout too, got a good jump on him, so I think he\u2019ll definitely help their lineout,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have a player like Caelan Doris<\/a> move to seven, they\u2019re going to have a lot of good ball carriers in their backrow. That\u2019s a really big point for us where our backrow is going to have to step up and try and stop them there because they\u2019ve obviously picked quite a big one. But I think it\u2019s always exciting when you get to go up against three quality backrows.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CaelanCaelan Doris at Ireland’s captain’s run session at the Aviva Stadium on Friday. Photograph: Nick Elliott\/INPHO <\/p>\n

Three kilometres down the road at the Aviva Stadium it was a case of \u201cright back at you\u201d as Caelan Doris, the Ireland captain, was asked about the Aussie loose trio and in particular the indefatigable Fraser McReight. <\/p>\n

\u201cSet piece is a big focus area,\u201d Doris said. \u201cScrum and lineout, how we show up there. Breakdown-wise, I\u2019m obviously playing seven [and] up against McReight, who\u2019s been world-class over the last couple of years. I think he was top poacher in the Rugby Championship and contests a ton of balls. So, breakdown is going to be a big point.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s [McReight] extremely fit. His work-rate is almost unparalleled. We saw a clip of him, I think it was the 76th minute of a game a few weeks back. He makes a tackle, gets off the ground, chases, gets on the end of a ball and scores a try. His stats each game are very high. <\/p>\n

\"MackMack Hansen in training at the Aviva Stadium on Friday. Photograph: Tom Maher\/INPHO <\/p>\n

\u201cHe has got a good skill set as well, he\u2019s a good footballer and has the ability to play the ball off the line. He\u2019s not the biggest guy, but he carries pretty strongly as well. The standout thing is his work rate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Doris is unfazed by swapping his traditional role at eight for a crack at openside flanker. He will continue to try to cause chaos at the breakdown. \u201cThe first breakdown battle off scrums and lineouts is going to be a difference. Up against McReight, it\u2019s going to be one that I\u2019m looking forward to and need to get right,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

There is a sense that both Ireland and Australia are trying to wriggle out from underneath a blanket of criticism in some quarters that decries a level of recent underperformance. The Wallabies are suffering legacy disappointment from Udine and the 26-19 defeat to Italy<\/a>; Ireland from the 13-26 defeat to the All Blacks in Chicago<\/a> and a failure to blossom in the opening 40-minutes against Japan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"FraserFraser McReight, seen here in training on Thursday, has a work-rate that is almost unparalleled, says Caelan Doris. Photograph: Gavin Cullen\/INPHO <\/p>\n

Australia are looking for energy to sustain them through the penultimate game of a long season and better discipline in a broad sense; Ireland for improved accuracy at the set piece and in handling. It\u2019s what is missing rather than what\u2019s there that\u2019s generated the greater angst outside of the respective camps.<\/p>\n

The final word to Doris. \u201cThe World Cup rankings are done in December, so from that point of view it\u2019s massively important but also in terms of continuing the belief and improvement. [To get the result] it\u2019s got to be process-focused, performance-focused, so that is what we are putting our minds towards. It\u2019s the consistency defensively and in what we\u2019re doing in attack that needs to improve this weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s 7.50am on Friday. The high-pitched whine is an audible reminder of the wind that buffets the doors…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":134350,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[11967,85,46,105],"class_list":["post-134349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-harry-wilson","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}