Few changes expected.
As the dust finally settles on Ireland’s recent bruising encounter with the All Blacks, attention now turns to the potential starting XV which will aim to make it successive victories against Michael Cheika’s Wallabies.
Ireland have already over-achieved so far this Autumn. A first win in 111 years against New Zealand in Chicago and going toe-to-toe with Steve Hansen’s men in the Aviva last Saturday has re-ignited the enthusiasm around Joe Schmidt’s side.
However, if Ireland don’t manage to secure a victory in their final match of this November series, that enthusiasm will dwindle and the narrative surrounding this Ireland side as a team who do not back up big victories will only grow stronger.
In addition to this, the Wallabies are a formidable outfit, as they come into this match on the back of successive victories against Wales, Scotland and France.
As a result, we fully expect Schmidt to name his strongest team for this clash.
We expect the front row to stay the same because why fix what’s not broken? The front trio of McGrath-Best-Furlong is no doubt Ireland’s first choice front row, especially after Furlong’s rampaging performance against the All Blacks at the weekend.
In the second row, Devin Toner and Donnacha Ryan have formed a reliable partnership. They were not as effective in the second Test against the All Blacks but this coincided with the return of Sam Whitelock and Brodie Retallick. We don’t expect Schmidt to break up this duo.
Jamie Heaslip, who seems to be getting better with age and Sean O’Brien, who made 20 carries against the All Blacks and came so close to scoring two tries, are nailed on to start.
The No. 6 shirt will go to CJ Stander, whose game on Saturday was cut cruelly short with concussion just as he was making his mark on the match with some excellent carries. This is dependent on whether he successfully completes his return-to-play protocols.
Conor Murray at scrum half. No-brainer.
This is why kicking that crucial penalty was no bother to Conor Murray https://t.co/ccDJJIBFHi
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) November 6, 2016
With Sexton’s hamstring injury ruling him out of this weekend’s clash, we predict that Paddy Jackson will occupy the No. 10 shirt with Joey Carbery to continue his fledgling international career with an appearance from the bench.
The wing spots ought to be occupied by Andrew Trimble and Simon Zebo, the latter having taken part in modified training this week but is expected to be fully fit by the weekend.
Arguably the most contentious decision of the weekend will be he make-up of the midfield. Robbie Henshaw has been ruled out due to the concussion suffered at the hands of Sam Cane, who outrageously did not receive any form of retrospective punishment.
He got off scot-free https://t.co/avwrkzh9ke
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) November 23, 2016
Schmidt is a fan of Luke Marshall. He started in the 12 channel last week against Canada and also played in two of the three Tests against South Africa during the summer. His familiarity with his provincial colleague Jared Payne adds to the probability that this will be the midfield partnership for Saturday.
We realise that Garry Ringrose is due a Test start against decent opposition and that he put in an excellent performance when he came on for Henshaw at the weekend. However, Schmidt tends to be conservative when it comes to his starting XV and we expect Marshall to get the nod here.
Finally Rob Kearney has done nothing in his two performances against the All Blacks that would make Schmidt consider someone else in this position.
Replacements: Sean Cronin, Cian Healy, Finlay Bealham, Iain Henderson, Josh van der Flier, Kieran Marmion, Joey Carbery, Garry Ringrose
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