Wiser Cullen thirsting for revenge against Australia

DUBLIN’S Brian Cullen will board the Irish team’s flight for Australia tomorrow hoping for a vastly different experience to the one he suffered four years ago.

Back in 2001, the Skerries man was captain of the Ireland U17 side that took on their Antipodean counterparts in a three-Test series that began brightly but degenerated into a painful 95-314 aggregate massacre.

The first Test, played as the curtain-raiser to a Carlton-Essendon AFL game in front of 80,000 at Melbourne’s MCG, was an absorbing affair for three quarters until the hosts’ superior fitness levels and physiques prevailed. After that it was all downhill for the visitors.