Ireland v Australia - teams and prediction

PREVIEW: Australia coach Joe Schmidt is not expecting any “love bombs” when he returns to Lansdowne Road, where he engineered many famous wins for Ireland, but he is still the man Johnny Sexton once said taught the Irish “how to win”.

The 59-year-old former teacher won many plaudits for his coaching of Leinster and Ireland and on Saturday hopes he can engineer a win over the Irish.

Current Ireland coach Andy Farrell says New Zealander Schmidt deserves “all the accolades” he receives because “of what he did for Irish rugby”.

“He’s the most successful coach in Irish rugby when you look at his time overall in Dublin,” said Farrell, who was his assistant from 2016 to 2019.

“That experience that I’ve gained under Joe, seeing how he does it on the inside is invaluable.”

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Schmidt first came to global rugby’s attention when he was assistant coach from 2007 to 2010 to compatriot Vern Cotter at Top 14 side Clermont.

“Joe has a good brain, he can analyse the game but also the players. Their traits, skillsets, weaknesses and strengths,” Cotter told AFP.

“He uses that to both analyse the opposition for opportunities but also his own team to improve.”

Those abilities bore fruit with Leinster, landing successive European Cups, which secured him the job with a floundering Ireland side.

He engineered a remarkable turnaround, transforming their fortunes and instilling a different attitude.

Three Six Nations titles, including the 2018 Grand Slam, followed, as well as a historic home win over New Zealand that year.

However, the All Blacks brought the curtain down on his reign less than a year later with a 46-14 thrashing in the World Cup quarterfinals.

The manner of the 2019 World Cup defeat left its mark on Schmidt and he admitted he felt “a little bit broken”.

Despite his successful stint with Ireland, he is not expecting a universally welcoming reception this weekend in the city in which he still owns a house and where his daughter still lives.

“I know the Lansdowne pretty well and that will be nice to get back there, albeit in a different changing shed,” he said after Australia’s loss to Scotland last week.

“I’m really excited about getting back, I don’t know about being love-bombed.

“I coached against them a couple of times with the All Blacks and I think I was pretty unpopular there.

“I’ve swapped sides again and there’ll be a degree of unpopularity.”

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‘Important work’

Schmidt also endeared himself to people during his time in Ireland by trying to raise awareness about epilepsy, from which his son Luke suffers.

“He is much appreciated in Ireland both for rugby and what he did in terms of giving a high profile to epilepsy as his son has it, like my boy,” former Ireland fullback Hugo MacNeill told AFP.

“He has done some very important work for Epilepsy Ireland and he helped raise invaluable funds for it.”

Schmidt was appointed Australia coach in January but oversaw a disappointing Rugby Championship campaign in which the Wallabies lost five of six matches.

But there have been signs this November test series that Australia could be on the way back to being a force in world rugby, with last weekend’s loss to Scotland following impressive victories over Wales and England.

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Players to watch:

For Ireland: It is a special occasion for Cian Healy as he is set to become Ireland’s most-capped player of all time, moving to 134 caps and past Brian O’Driscoll should he come off the replacements bench on Saturday. Hugo Keenan, Mack Hansen and James Lowe start in the Ireland back three, with Bundee Aki and Robbie Henshaw continuing their midfield partnership, while Jamison Gibson-Park and Sam Prendergast are named at scrumhalf and flyhalf respectively. In the pack, Andrew Porter, Rónan Kelleher and Finlay Bealham start in the front row, with Joe McCarthy and James Ryan in the engine room, and Tadhg Beirne, Josh van der Flier and captain Caelan Doris making up the back row.

For Australia: Props James Slipper and Taniela Tupou will start for the Wallabies. The experienced duo will combine with Brandon Paenga-Amosa in the front row. Nick Frost and Jeremy Williams pair up in the second row, with the latter recovering from the illness that ruled him out of the Scotland Test. Queensland’s Fraser McReight also returns to the starting line-up, for what is the side’s final Test of 2024. He’ll reunite with blindside flank Rob Valetini and captain Harry Wilson in the loose forward trio. Valetini is one of three players including Andrew Kellaway and Allan Alaalatoa who have played in all 13 Tests for the Wallabies this year. Jake Gordon and Noah Lolesio will line up for their 29th Tests for Australia in the halves.

Prediction: 

@rugby365: Ireland by five points

Teams: 

Ireland: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Mack Hansen, 13 Robbie Henshaw, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 James Lowe, 10 Sam Prendergast, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Caelan Doris (captain), 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Tadhg Beirne, 5 James Ryan, 4 Joe McCarthy, 3 Finlay Bealham, 2 Ronan Kelleher, 1 Andrew Porter.
Replacements: 16 Gus McCarthy, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Tom O’Toole, 19 Iain Henderson, 20 Peter O’Mahony, 21 Craig Casey, 22 Jack Crowley, 23 Garry Ringrose.

Australia: 15 Tom Wright, 14 Andrew Kellaway, 13 Joseph-Akuso Suaalii, 12 Len Ikitau, 11 Max Jorgensen, 10 Noah Lolesio, 9 Jake Gordon, 8 Harry Wilson (captain), 7 Fraser McReight, 6 Rob Valetini, 5 Jeremy Williams, 4 Nick Frost, 3 Taniela Tupou, 2 Brandon Paenga-Amosa, 1 James Slipper
Replacements: 16 Billy Pollard, 17 Angus Bell, 18 Allan Alaalatoa, 19 Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, 20 Langi Gleeson, 21 Tate McDermott, 22 Tane Edmed, 23 Harry Potter

Date: Saturday, November 30
Venue: Lansdowne Road, Dublin
Kick-off: 15.10 (15.10 GMT; 02.10, Sunday, December 1, AEST)
Referee: Andrea Piardi
Assistant referees: Nika Amashukeli, Gianluca Gnecchi
TMO: Eric Gauzins