Wallabies scrum will be 'no pushover'
The Wallaby scrum at Twickenham was labelled a "disgrace" by former All Black skipper Sean Fitzpatrick, leaving coach Eddie Jones with little option but to field two new props.
David Fitter makes his debut in place of tight-head Al Baxter, while Greg Holmes replaces injured loose-head Matt Dunning, winning his first Test start, in a new-look rookie front row.
Ireland props Marcus Horan and John Hayes have 86 caps between them and will be rubbing their hands with joy at the prospect of attacking the callow Wallaby duo.
However, O'Sullivan made it clear that experience doesn't always counter enthusiasm: "You always have to start somewhere, and Eddie (Jones) obviously feels that these guys are right for the occasion.
"I'm not so sure that Australia will be weakened by those changes. I think these guys will bring a lot of enthusiasm to the game; it's a start for them and they will come out wanting to make a point."
Even though England slaughtered the Australian scrum, O'Sullivan now reckons it's back to square one:
"It's not an area that we will target just because they have made changes; it's an area that you would attack naturally.
"You've got to be capable of trying to have a more expansive game. You have to have more strings to your bow than that, but if you get ascendancy there, you would be foolish not to take it. We won't take anything for granted but will see how it pans out."
But O'Sullivan made it quite clear how important the forward battle is going to be. Acknowledging that Australia's backs, particularly the back three, pose a huge danger, the Irish coach said that set pieces could be crucial to the outcome.
"We have looked at the scrums but we know that the line out could be the all important area. I figure we both have a good defensive line out, and we were disappointed last week that there weren't too many opportunities to attack New Zealand.
"They kept the ball away from the touchline and I suppose Australia will try to do the same, knowing that we're fairly confident on our own ball."
O'Sullivan was amused at the suggestion that Eddie Jones expects Ireland to adopt more of a kicking game than last week. "That's good; glad to hear that," he said.
Obviously, O'Sullivan realises that Australia's back three, from Chris Latham to wingers Mark Gerrard and Morgan Tuirinui, performed very well at Twickenham last week.
Ireland may have failed to put the All Blacks under pressure, but that won't stop them from trying to run the ball this week.
O'Sullivan will be looking for a major improvement: "You can say a lot about last week but the key areas were that we weren't accurate with the placement of the ball, with our passing, and we compounded that by making unforced errors.
"At times, we were sloppy and we also made some defensive errors; so if we can defend better than last week, show more composure and hang onto the ball for longer, I'm sure we will have a much better performance.
"We paid a price for mistakes last week. We need to attack with a bit of style, defend better, make the tackles. There's no magic in that; it's a question of getting it done, that's the key. We want to keep the ball in hand, it's a type of game we're trying to develop. Things don't happen overnight; it's a slightly new team with a few youngsters in, but that's all part of the process. I'm excited about the game and I hope the weather holds up to allow for a good game of rugby."
* Simon Easterby will be fit to face the Wallabies. Despite a nasty facial injury sustained against New Zealand, Easterby came through a fitness test this week.
"I'm fine, I probably don't look too great," he said as he sported a thick upper lip (where stitches were needed last week), "but I'm ready to go."
Peter Stringer (heel injury) was also given a clean bill of health and he is ready to win his 60th cap for Ireland.
"I have no worries on the injury count," said coach O'Sullivan. "We wouldn't have named them if they weren't right."
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