Gleeson seeks win on return to Oz

FORMER NSW turned Ireland flanker Keith Gleeson says the Irish are ready to match it with the rugby powerhouses of the southern hemisphere.

The back-rower grew up in Sydney and captained Australia under-21s but decided two years ago his international ambitions lay in the Emerald Isle after being unable to secure a regular start in four seasons with the Waratahs.

The 27-year-old breakaway, whose family migrated from Dublin to Sydney in 1984, will play his first international match on Australian soil against the Wallabies in Perth on Saturday.

He said Ireland’s 18-9 win over Australia at Lansdowne Road last November had fuelled belief in the team, later reflected when they swept through the Six Nations, losing only to England in the final match.

“The conditions last year made it an appalling game to play in, and we stuck it out a lot better than Australia,” Gleeson said of his first match against the Wallabies.

“However we came away from the match with a lot of belief last time that this Irish team can start to take on the southern hemisphere sides on a regular basis.”

Ireland and Australia will field vastly different lineups from their last encounter with both camps decimated by injuries, and they’ll undoubtedly be very different again when they meet again in a World Cup pool match.

But Gleeson said Ireland, which has won 10 of its past 11 matches, had started producing players with the necessary physical attributes to compete with the Wallabies.

“The next step is, with increased competition, we will start to produce players who think a lot better on the field,” he said.

“We now have the physical size and power, it is developing good brains in the players.”

Gleeson says he won’t be motivated to prove selectors here wrong for overlooking him in the past.

“I don’t believe it is a case of ‘this is one we let go’ because Australia has three good open-sides in the provinces (George Smith, Phil Waugh and David Croft).

“So, maybe one did slip through the net, but they have an abundance of talent in the position,” Gleeson said.

He said the best part of returning to his former homeland was his parents would be at the game, and his grandmother could watch it live on television.

The 185cm, 97kg Gleeson said he doesn’t regret turning his back on Australian rugby after receiving the blessings of celebrated Australian backrowers Steve Tuynman and Tony Shaw to try his chances in Ireland.

“It was enjoyable last year in Dublin that I played against the likes of Scott Staniforth, Stirling Mortlock, Ben Darwin, guys I had played a lot of rugby with and against in the past,” he said.

“But at the end of the day it will be even nicer having come off the field having won again.”