Ireland grew throughout the 2018 NatWest 6 Nations on their way to a Grand Slam and Joe Schmidt is hoping that same improvement shines through in the second Test against Australia.
Ireland went down to a narrow 18-9 defeat in the first Test of their summer tour in Brisbane but head to Melbourne on Saturday gunning for revenge.
Schmidt has made eight changes in all to the first Test team with the headline being the return of Jonathan Sexton to the fly-half jersey.
A replacement in the first Test – the British & Irish Lion will pull the strings alongside Conor Murray on Saturday against an unchanged Wallabies side.
Elsewhere, in the pack Cian Healy and Tadhg Furlong pack down in the front row either side of Niall Scannell while Devin Toner joins James Ryan in the second row.
Dan Leavy comes in at openside flanker alongside CJ Stander and Peter O’Mahony who will continue to captain the side.
Outside Sexton in the backs, Garry Ringrose partners Robbie Henshaw in midfield while Andrew Conway replaces Jacob Stockdale on the wing. What they said Joe Schmidt: “We trained well this week. We were a little bit flat on Tuesday – some players needed a bit of time to find their feet a long way from home.
“I would like to think we have a bit more rhythm about us. In the NatWest 6 Nations I felt we built through it and I hope we can do that on this tour.
“We would have liked to have started from a higher pitch and built from that, but we are confident that Australia will be well prepared and improve their game. So we have to improve that little bit more.” Jonathan Sexton: “I think you learn a lot when you lose.
“You try and learn through winning. I think it’s something that we did quite well through the NatWest 6 Nations is that we improved even though we were winning, which is the sign of a good team, and now we’ve got to bounce back, we’ve got to show a reaction and we’ve got to perform a hell of a lot better than we did last week.” Opposition 2017 was a mixed year for Australia who did hand the All Blacks a rare defeat but also slipped to home and away defeats Scotland.
But they appear to shaping up nicely for next year’s Rugby World Cup once again and Michael Hooper and David Pocock’s combined breakdown work was a constant menace in Brisbane.
Bernard Foley and Kurtley Beale dovetail beautifully in midfield while Israel Folau is without compare in the modern game under the high ball.
Michael Cheika opted to keep the same team that downed Ireland in Test one – so Ireland know what is coming at them – the question is can they stop them? Key stat Ireland’s 12-game winning run came to an end in the first Test while lock James Ryan was handed his first professional defeat for province or country after an unbeaten 23-game start to his career. Ireland team to face Australia: 15. Rob Kearney (Leinster) 84 caps 14. Andrew Conway (Munster) 6 caps 13. Garry Ringrose (Leinster) 13 caps 12. Robbie Henshaw (Leinster) 34 caps 11. Keith Earls (Munster) 68 caps 10. Johnny Sexton (Leinster) 74 caps 9. Conor Murray (Munster) 65 caps 1. Cian Healy (Leinster) 79 caps 2. Niall Scannell (Munster) 7 caps 3. Tadhg Furlong (Leinster) 24 caps 4. James Ryan (Leinster) 9 caps 5. Devin Toner (Leinster) 58 caps 6. Peter O’Mahony (Munster) 48 caps 7. Dan Leavy (Leinster) 9 caps 8. CJ Stander (Munster) 24 caps
Replacements 16. Rob Herring (Ulster) 4 caps 17. Jack McGrath (Leinster) 48 caps 18. Andrew Porter (Leinster) 7 caps 19. Tadhg Beirne (Scarlets) uncapped 20. Jordi Murphy (Leinster) 21 caps 21. John Cooney (Ulster) 1 cap 22. Joey Carbery (Leinster) 11 caps 23. Jordan Larmour (Leinster) 4 caps
