Sports Mole previews Saturday’s friendly clash between Ireland and Australia, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Ireland and Australia will sign off the 2024 rugby season on Friday afternoon when they meet in the final match of the Autumn Nations Series at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.
Both these sides have won two and lost one of their three matches this month, and they will want to end the year on a positive note ahead of next year’s British and Irish Lions Tour.
Match preview
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This match is packed with compelling narratives, the most prominent being the face-off between Joe Schmidt, the architect of Ireland’s current rugby framework, and his former assistant, Andy Farrell, who has since taken the helm of the Irish team.
Ireland have had a fairly solid season, which began with winning the Six Nations earlier this year and tying their series with the world champions South Africa on the road during the July internationals.
However, they began their year-end campaign with a disappointing performance against the All Blacks in their opening match, where they looked somewhat rusty and far from the form they displayed when defeating the Springboks in July.
That result ultimately saw the Shamrocks surrender the world number-one ranking to the Boks, but they bounced back well from that defeat, holding off a plucky Argentina before putting Fiji to the sword last week.
Still, there has been criticism of Ireland this month, with many feeling that this current squad has tried to be too clever at times in the Autumn Nations Series, and have neglected the physical element that has served them so well over recent years.
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Meanwhile, Schmidt’s debut season leading Australia has been a very challenging one, which included a last-place finish in the Rugby Championship and a record-breaking defeat at the hands of Argentina.
The Wallabies have shown significant improvement in the Autumn Nations Series, though, taking their record for the year to four wins and six defeats thanks to a 42-37 victory over England and a 52-20 trouncing of Wales.
However, their hopes of securing a Grand Slam were crushed last weekend at Murrayfield, where Scotland delivered a big performance in their final match of the year to hand the men from Down Under a 27-13 defeat.
Notably, the wins against England and Wales marked the first time in 13 years that the Wallabies scored 40-plus points in consecutive Tests, indicating that the side is certainly making strides forward under Schmidt and giving their fans hope for a better 2025.
Ireland form (all competitions):
Australia form (all competitions):
Team News
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After impressing in their commanding victory over Fiji last week, Farrell has given rookie Sam Prendergast the nod to start at flyhalf again this week ahead of Jack Crowley, who features on the bench.
James Lowe, Mack Hansen and Hugo Keenan will combine for the third time in the 2024 Autumn Nations Series, while Robbie Henshaw and Bundee Aki are retained in the midfield pairing.
Schmidt has made six changes to his starting team for their final match of the year, bringing in a fresh prop duo in James Slipper and Taniela Tupou to replace Angus Bell and Allan Alaalatoa.
Nick Frost and Jeremy Williams will pair up in the second row, with the latter returning after recovering from the illness that kept him out of last week’s Scotland match, while Fraser McReight is also set to return to the starting lineup.
Ireland starting lineup: 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 (c), 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 starting lineup: 15 Tom Wright, 14 Andrew Kellaway, 13 Joseph Suaalii, 12 Len Ikitau, 11 Max Jorgensen, 10 Noah Lolesio, 9 Jake Gordon, 8 Harry Wilson (c), 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
We say: Ireland 27-15 Australia
While Australia have made significant improvement this month, they are still a long way from being able to challenge the top three teams in the world, and we feel that the hosts will secure a fairly comfortable victory in this one.
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