Ireland to Host Australia in 150th Anniversary Test: Match Preview

Ireland is set to conclude their November series by hosting Australia, led by their former head coach Joe Schmidt, in a Test match commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Irish Rugby Football Union. Ireland has secured victory in five of their last six Test encounters against Australia. Andy Farrell’s squad enters the fixture following a decisive win over Fiji on Saturday, while the visiting Australian side, having been defeated by Scotland on Sunday, will have one less day for preparation. This marks only the second occasion the Wallabies have played in Dublin since 2016, and they will be aiming for their first away win in this fixture since 2013, a victory that occurred during Schmidt’s second game as Ireland’s coach. The game is scheduled for Saturday at 15:10 GMT at Aviva Stadium. Live text commentary will be available for blow-by-blow updates on Saturday. Audio coverage can be accessed via BBC Sounds or BBC Radio Ulster, with additional availability on the BBC Sport website and app. For comprehensive build-up and analysis, followers are directed to the Irish Rugby page. Ireland’s head coach, Andy Farrell, is expected to announce his team on Thursday afternoon at 14:00 GMT, with Australia anticipated to reveal their line-up on the same day. The match in Dublin on Saturday will be officiated by Italian referee Andrea Piardi. His assistant referees will be compatriot Gianluca Gneechi and Georgian Nika Amashukeli, while Frenchman Eric Gauzins will serve as the Television Match Official [TMO]. Ireland’s 19-game winning streak at the Aviva Stadium was broken by the All Blacks earlier this month. However, they have since recovered with consecutive victories over Argentina and Fiji in the past two weeks. The win against the Pumas was a tense affair, with Ireland narrowly prevailing 22-19 after the visitors committed a knock-on deep in opposition territory to end the game. In contrast, they delivered a dominant performance against Fiji on Saturday, where Andy Farrell implemented seven changes to his squad, resulting in a rotated panel scoring eight tries in a 52-17 triumph. Australia, conversely, commenced their November tour impressively, generating optimism that they could replicate the ‘Grand Slam’ achievements of 1984. Initial wins against England and Wales placed them halfway to a clean sweep. However, they suffered a significant 27-13 defeat to Scotland on Sunday and arrive in Dublin on the back of this reverse. Regarding player availability, Ireland’s tight-head prop Tadhg Furlong has not yet featured in this series after sustaining a hamstring injury during preparations in Portugal. Backs Jamie Osborne and Jacob Stockdale also left the Fiji match with abductor and hamstring issues, respectively. For Australia, emerging star Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii is a doubt after the Rugby League convert sustained an injury in the first half of their Murrayfield loss on Sunday. Centre Samu Kerevi, currently serving a ban for a red card against Wales, and former captain Will Skelton will be unavailable as the game falls outside World Rugby’s designated international window. In their 37 previous Test encounters, Australia has won 22 times, Ireland 14, with one draw recorded at Croke Park in 2009. Ireland has emerged victorious in the last three meetings, a sequence that includes a series win in Australia in 2018. Another victory on Saturday would match their longest ever winning run against the Wallabies. However, they still have a considerable way to go to equal Australia’s 11-game winning streak in this fixture, which occurred between 1981 and 1999. Spectators attending Saturday’s match will likely hope for a more engaging contest than the last meeting in 2022. That game was disjointed, particularly after Irish captain Johnny Sexton withdrew due to injury during the warm-up. Bundee Aki and Jordan Petaia exchanged scores before Ireland’s replacement fly-half, Ross Byrne, secured a 13-10 victory with a late penalty. A significant narrative surrounding this Test match is the return of Joe Schmidt, arguably Ireland’s most successful coach, to the Aviva Stadium. During his six-year tenure as Ireland coach, Schmidt secured three Six Nations titles, including a Grand Slam, ended a 111-year wait for a victory over the All Blacks, and achieved Ireland’s first-ever win on South African soil. He departed after the 2019 World Cup and was succeeded by his then-assistant, Andy Farrell. Although Schmidt was part of the All Blacks staff that defeated Ireland at the 2023 World Cup, this fixture marks the first time he and Farrell will face each other as opposing head coaches. This will also be Farrell’s final Test in charge of Ireland before he takes a sabbatical to lead the British and Irish Lions in Australia next summer.