Autumn Internationals: Six Nations champions Ireland take on Australia in Dublin
Last Updated: 22/11/14 2:11pm
Six Nations champions Ireland entertain Australia at Lansdowne Road eyeing their first November series sweep in eight years.
Ireland followed up their superb 29-15 victory over South Africa with a thrashing of Georgia last weekend, resting most of their front-line players ahead of the visit of Australia who handed coach Joe Schmidt his first loss as national team coach a year ago.
The Wallabies started their tour with a 40-36 victory over the Barbarians at Twickenham in Michael Cheika's debut as coach, then beat Wales 33-28 at Cardiff before losing 29-26 to France in Paris last Saturday.
Schmidt makes two changes from the side that beat South Africa and are now looking to claim the scalps of both the Wallabies and South Africa in the same year for the first time since 2006 as they seek their seventh successive win.
With Jared Payne losing his race against fitness after a late injury in an impressive debut against South Africa, the experienced Gordon D'Arcy retains his place in the centre alongside Connacht youngster Robbie Henshaw.
Fit again hooker Rory Best returns to the side to win his 78th cap, with the explosive Sean Cronin dropping to the bench.
"We'll find out on Saturday if the boys can handle the greater expectations," admitted Schmidt, whose side have reached number three in the IRB rankings.
"We're feeling more pressure this week. I'm not sure you can shield the team from the public expectation and I sense they're aware of it.
"I would like to think it is no harm that instead of being distracted by it we are motivated by it.
"There is fear within all of us, it is human nature. There is a level of anxiety that is positive but there is also a fine line and if it goes beyond that then we enter negative territory.
"However, if we meet those expectations then we can do well," added the 49-year-old New Zealander.
Test debut
Fijian-born winger Henry Speight will make his Test debut for Australia in one of four team changes for the one-off Test in Dublin.
Speight will become the third player to make his debut for Australia on this month's European tour, joining Sean McMahon and Tetera Faulkner.
The 26-year-old has been knocking on the door for Test selection after some exciting attacking displays for the ACT Brumbies in this year's Super 15 season.
"Henry has done all the right things to earn his selection, has had an outstanding Super Rugby season and deserves his opportunity to play for Australia," coach Cheika said.
"He is very passionate about representing Australia and we're all looking forward to seeing him bring his best attributes to our game."
In other changes made by Cheika following last week's loss to France, lock Sam Carter, back-row Luke Jones and centre Matt Toomua come into the starting XV.
Jones, of the Melbourne Rebels, gets his first run-on opportunity for the Wallabies in his second Test match following his debut against France in Melbourne in June.
He displaces McMahon at blindside flanker, while Carter replaces James Horwill and Toomua takes over from his ACT Brumbies teammate Christian Leali'ifano.
"The other changes have been made to give the other players who have been knocking on the door an opportunity to start a Test match on this tour," Cheika said.
"All our changes will bring a new energy into the team and I know everyone is looking forward to the opportunities our match against Ireland will bring."
Ireland: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Robbie Henshaw, 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Simon Zebo, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Conor Murray. 1 Jack McGrath, 2 Rory Best, 3 Mike Ross, 4 Devin Toner, 5 Paul O'Connell (c), 6 Peter O'Mahony, 7 Rhys Ruddock, 8 Jamie Heaslip.
Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Dave Kilcoyne, 18 Rodney Ah You, 19 Dave Foley, 20 Tommy O'Donnell, 21 Eoin Reddan, 22 Ian Madigan, 23 Felix Jones.
Australia: 15 Israel Folau, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Tevita Kuridriani, 12 Matt Toomua, 11 Henry Speight, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Nick Phipps. 1 James Slipper, 2 Saia Fainga'a, 3 Sekope Kepu, 4 Sam Carter, 5 Rob Simmons, 6 Luke Jones, 7 Michael Hooper (c), 8 Ben McCalman.
Replacements: 16 James Hanson, 17 Tetera Faulkner, 18 Benn Robinson, 19 Will Skelton, 20 Jake Schatz, 21 Will Genia, 22 Quade Cooper, 23 Kurtley Beale.
Watch Ireland v Australia live on Sky Sports 2 on Saturday from 4pm