Connolly wary of wounded Ireland

COACH John Connolly has warned his players that wounded Ireland are in Perth looking for a Wallaby scalp on Saturday to finish the season in style.

And he said that Ireland were cruelly unlucky not to have taken one of the two Tests against New Zealand.

“I thought they played very well. They rattled the All Blacks, and both games turned on a couple of incidents that could have gone either way. It’s clear they have come a long way in terms of progress since the end of last year,” he said.

Connolly agreed with All Blacks coach Graham Henry when he said the return of Brian O’Driscoll and Paul O’Connell had lifted Ireland, but added: “I think it is unfair to single these two guys out, because in my view Ireland have at least six world-class players in their ranks — that’s in addition to a host of other high quality players.

“I rate Donncha O’Callaghan, Gordon D’Arcy, Peter Stringer and Ronan O’Gara as world-class as well. These guys have heaps of experience and all of them put in a huge amount of work in the series with the All Blacks. They’ve done the business over a considerable length of time, particularly the half-backs. People don’t survive in international rugby for as long as they have unless they’re very, very good,” insisted Connolly.

He continued: “Ireland can play for field position and use a high quality pack, but they can also throw the ball around a bit. I think they would have liked to do a bit more of that in Auckland last week, but the conditions were too bad.

“I have warned my guys to expect a much heftier challenge than against England. You couldn’t realistically compare the two teams that have come out here. Ireland are surely much better than a weakened England.

“They won’t give us anywhere near the opportunities England gave us. We’ll have to turn it up immeasurably,” he said.

Ireland’s performances in New Zealand have certainly impressed other Australians, notably Wallaby hooker Brendan Cannon who has packed down against the Irish four times in his 40 Test career, most notably in the 2003 World Cup when the Wallabies won 17-16.

Up against Keith Wood, he observed: “He was an amazing player. I admired him greatly, because he could do unbelievable things on the field. He could chip and chase, had a great turn of speed and fantastic hands. For a hooker, that was freaky.”

Cannon believes Wood left a legacy to this current team whom, he says, have definitely stepped up to the mark.

“Everyone loves the Irish because they’re so welcoming. They’ll sing songs and regale you with stories, but that’s not until they’ve either tried or succeeded in knocking lumps out of you.

“This team hasn’t had the success against southern hemisphere opposition that they would have liked, but there is so much talent in their side that they will be capable of turning it around from New Zealand. Australia must be aware of that,” he said.

Meanwhile, prop Rodney Blake has been ruled out of Saturday clash at Subiaco Oval with an ankle injury.

Blake, 23, twisted an ankle in Australia’s 43-18 win over England in Melbourne last Saturday.

Blindside flanker Daniel Heenan is still recovering from a shoulder injury he sustained against England in Sydney earlier this month. Greg Holmes is also doubtful with a toe injury.