Ireland head coach Andy Farrell has made wholesale changes to his 23-man squad to face the Wallabies, with British and Irish Lion Mack Hansen the headline call.<\/p>\n
Farrell\u2019s men will be looking to properly kick-start their November campaign this weekend, following a tough loss against the All Blacks in Chicago, before an underwhelming win over Japan last time out.<\/p>\n
Ireland make mass changes as Mack Hansen returns<\/p>\n
Hansen returns to make his first Ireland start since the Six Nations, replacing Jamie Osborne at full-back, while James Lowe also comes into the back-three in place of Jacob Stockdale. Tommy O\u2019Brien completes the unit, keeping his spot on the right wing.<\/p>\n
There is also a fresh midfield partnership, with Robbie Henshaw and Stuart McCloskey named at 13 and 12 respectively, while Sam Prendergast gets the nod over Jack Crowley at fly-half. Jamison Gibson-Park rounds off the starting backline.<\/p>\n
Jack Conan comes back into the starting pack, slotting in at number eight. His inclusion sees skipper Caelan Doris move over to openside flanker, while Ryan Baird continues at six.<\/p>\n
Tadhg Beirne and James Ryan again get the nod in the second-row, while Tadhg Furlong, Dan Sheehan and Paddy McCarthy form the front-row. This is also McCarthy\u2019s first senior start for Ireland, after two appearances off the bench this November.<\/p>\n
Ronan Kelleher, Andrew Porter, Thomas Clarkson, Nick Timoney, Cian Prendergast, Craig Casey, Crowley and Bundee Aki form the replacements bench this weekend.<\/p>\n
Commenting on his selection, Farrell said: \u201cThere\u2019s great respect and familiarity between Ireland and Australia and Saturday is the latest renewal in a series of matches which have been pretty evenly balanced over the last number of years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere has been a good buzz around training this week and the players are excited about the challenge that awaits.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor us it\u2019s about putting in an 80-plus minute performance and to try and implement our gameplan in front of what we know will be a vocal home support.\u201d<\/p>\n