Injury-free Irish ready for stiff Aussie test
Judging by Australia’s sharp hour-long workout yesterday, the World Cup champions have lost little of the skill and intuition that has been their hallmark in recent times.
On the eve of the Test, both captains, David Humphreys and George Gregan, swapped pleasantries and were adamant that the opposition provided a litmus test with the World Cup countdown underway.
Irish outhalf Humphreys was anxious to dismiss any suggestions that the hosts would be ring-rusty. He is expecting nothing but brilliance from the new breed of Wallabies.
“I think if you look back four years ago, when we were here in 99, people would have been under the same impression.
"We came up against a team that would have been described as slightly rusty and they hammered us. We’re not going into the game under any illusions. We’re expecting a top quality Wallaby performance.”
Gregan, responded with some compliments of his own for Ireland and used last November’s defeat in Dublin as the basis for his comments.
“I think it’s important that it’s used as a reality check for everyone so that they don’t take their eye off the ball. It’s going to be a tough Test game.
"Ireland have won 10 of their last 11 games and they’re a confident team that’s got a good track record over the last 12 months. There’s a lot of respect there from our point of view.”
Ireland enjoyed a light run-out yesterday and have no injury worries ahead of this first World Cup warm-up. Both Humphreys and Ronan O’Gara got in some place-kicking practice at the stadium while the rest of the squad relaxed in the beautiful 20 degree sunshine.
Humphreys was wholesome in his praise of the oval-shaped AFL stadium. “We played here four years ago and it’s a fantastic stadium to play in.
"The surface is very good, the overhead conditions will hopefully be good and, as a player, it’s the kind of stadium you want to play in.”
Wendell Sailor was in the thick of things as usual during Australia’s light-hearted session and the sight of Chris Latham, Joe Roff, Elton Flatley and Steve Kefu combining fluidly hinted that Ireland may have their hands full if Australia cut loose. However, Gregan was adamant that the visitors would not be taken lightly.
“I think every team that plays against Ireland has a tough task ahead of them,” he said.
“They’re a team that competes very hard for the entire match. I think over the last couple of years they’ve really developed that ability to play for the entire game.
"That whole stereotype of Ireland doing that for 50 or 60 minutes and then fading away doesn’t apply anymore.
“They’re in-your-face, looking to pressure you and looking to create some of those turn-overs into points.
"They’re a tough team to play and you’ve got to be ready for that.”
Irish coach Eddie O’Sullivan was also asked to take a swift glance back at the Grand Slam decider which was lost to England. He paused briefly before delivering his analysis of what went wrong.
“The disappointing thing was I felt the scoreline didn’t reflect the game. I think we were in the game for up to an hour and had some good opportunities in that time.
"I think if we’d scored we could have put a lot more pressure on England. If we do create opportunities against Australia we have to be a lot more clinical in our finishing.
"It’s something we’ve been looking at and we’ve been trying to develop our game. A lot of it is becoming accurate under pressure and we’re hoping if we do get the opportunities we will execute well...if we get the platform.”
RTÉ radio commentator Michael Corcoran will be in Perth to bring live coverage from the first of Ireland’s three tests.
The match will be live on Radio 1 Medium Wave (567 kHz / 729 kHz) from 10am to 12pm.
The action kicks off live and exclusive at 9.30am on Sky Sports 2.
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