Ireland captain Caelan Doris feels fighting talk from the Fiji camp has added an extra edge to Saturday’s Autumn Nations Series showdown in Dublin.
The Pacific Islanders are eyeing an upset at the Aviva Stadium, with opposition scrum-half Frank Lomani twice using the word “vulnerable” to describe Andy Farrell’s men during his pre-match media briefing.
Lomani also suggested the hosts, who slipped off the top of the world rankings following defeat by New Zealand a fortnight ago, are not the same team since the retirement of former skipper Johnny Sexton.
Asked if Lomani’s comments have injected more needle into the match, the Leinster number eight, said: “Yeah, I think so. I mean we definitely respect them, how they play. The two things you look at are their pace and their skillset, the way they throw the ball around, but also they’re a very powerful team.
“It’s going to be a very physical game. I remember the one a couple of years back (a 35-17 win for Ireland in 2022) for how physical it was. It’s going to be the same tomorrow and looking forward to the challenge of that.
“I think they’ll probably be confident based off a couple of their results and how they’ve gone against Wales (a 24-19 win) and Spain (a 33-19 victory).”
Ireland responded to the 23-13 loss against the All Blacks by edging past Argentina 22-19, albeit poor discipline remained an issue.
Head coach Farrell has made seven personnel changes to his starting XV, including handing Test debuts to hooker Gus McCarthy and flanker Cormac Izuchukwu alongside a first start to fly-half Sam Prendergast, while Doris is confident Ireland’s performance will not be adversely affected by the raft of alterations.
“When we’re training, we’re not training the opposition necessarily, we’re training to build the right habits,” said the 26-year-old. “So the whole group are working towards the same goal and regardless of who’s in, you’re expected to perform to a certain level.
“There’s a lot of belief within our camp still. We feel we have the right people showing us the way and there’s excitement about what we can do. The discipline has obviously been talked about a lot and it’s been an area that has been very good for us historically, so we’re looking forward to getting back on track there tomorrow.”
Farrell: “vulnerable” Ireland ready for Fiji
Fiji have lost each of the past five meetings between the nations but arrived in Dublin optimistic of claiming another scalp on the back of wins over England, Australia and Wales during the past 15 months.
Andy Farrell, right is giving a Test debut to Cormac Izuchukwu against Fiji
“You think the lads don’t read it (press coverage) but they do,” Farrell said. “They might tell you that they don’t but they do, 100 per cent they do.
“It’s great. It’s what you want. You want to play against sides that are confident and who think that it’s an opportunity for themselves because we have to rise to that.”
Asked if he feels the opposition may have saved their best performance until last, Farrell added: “Yeah, I’d expect that. Listening to their scrum-half they expect that as well which is great.
“They’ve proved over the last couple of years their consistency of performance because of their players playing in big games, not just internationally but all around the world now.”
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