Dempsey to replace out-of-sorts Murphy for Australia Test

GEORDAN MURPHY has been dropped from the Irish team to meet Australia at the Subiaco Oval on Saturday night, with Girvan Dempsey returning.

Dempsey, used as a replacement in the two Test games against New Zealand, wins his 66th cap ahead of the out-of-sorts Murphy. It’s the only change in the starting line up from the team beaten 27-17 by the All Blacks.

The Leicester player is retained in the squad of 22, but Jeremy Staunton is among the replacements, a clear sign that Eddie O’Sullivan has had a re-think about the possibility of using Murphy as cover for out-half Ronan O’Gara.

Indeed, he admitted as much: “While Geordan hasn’t been quite himself, he is worth his place on the bench. It’s not beyond the bounds of possibility that he might find himself covering more than just the back three, but I felt that Jeremy has made great strides on the tour.

“It’s a luxury I have now in that there are two players who I feel can cover the number 10 position if something were to go wrong for Ronan. I said at the start of the tour that Jeremy needed time to fit in. He has trained for a couple of weeks and has got into our system, and he is a lot more comfortable than he was at the start, so he deserves to get an opportunity.

In relation to Murphy’s exclusion, he said: “I don’t think he is on top of his game. I said before the tour started that we would pick a team each week to try and win a game; there haven’t been many changes from match to match, but I felt the change was timely.”

O’Sullivan said that Ireland had been very fortunate in terms of injury.

“At this time of the year, given the nature of the opposition, I would have expected to have had to make changes. Inevitably you get injuries or fatigue, but whether it has been a bit of luck or good management on behalf of the medical staff, that hasn’t been the case. We have been able to pick from a full deck every week, which is pretty unheard of, so I’m very pleased with that,” he said.

O’Sullivan is well aware of the huge task that awaits his team after two defeats by the All Blacks, allied to two wins by Australia over a weakened England.

“For the start of the season, they have hit the ground running. They’re playing some very accurate lines. You’ve got to accept that the backline is playing particularly well; they’re complementing the forward effort very well. Two hefty wins over England, any England side, is not to be sneezed at,” he said.

The Irish coach, however, is clearly more concerned with Australia’s back division than the pack.

“It’s going to be a different challenge for us. New Zealand’s backs are very powerful, direct, and confrontational. The Wallabies have a similar philosophy to ourselves. They like to run a lot of set plays, isolate defenders and pick holes on the gain line, rather than force their way through.

“They were very effective with that against England, but they’ve always had that mindset; an aspect of rugby I’ve always admired has been Wallaby back play. I followed their philosophy myself to a fair degree.” he said.

But O’Sullivan did hold out hope for Ireland when he said: “I think that the Australian backs are taking a fair bit of pressure off the pack.”

Yet, if that’s an indication that the Irish forwards will attempt to keep the game tight, O’Sullivan begged to differ.

“I think we have to wait and see what happens; it depends on the weather and on what way the game is going. Our objective is to go out and play good expansive rugby because we have huge strengths in our own backline, but you never know how an international rugby match is going to pan out.

“Our objective over the last few years has been exactly the same as Australia appears to be doing at the moment — we want to find a balance between backs and forwards.”

O’Sullivan feels that defence could be the crucial factor in the outcome.

He said: “It appears that the weather is going to be pretty good at the weekend, so that will give both teams an opportunity to showcase their talents. I think defence could win the game for either side; I’m not trying to blow our own trumpet but we’ve got a pretty good backline, a solid forward pack, and a very good defensive set-up.

“I think both teams will actually try to run the game, so it might boil down to the team who puts in the stronger and most successful effort in defence. There should be a lot of ball-in-play time, a lot of running, a lot of passing, so it might come down to the team better able to contain that wins the game. It could be a great game of rugby from that perspective,” he said.