Ireland determined to sign off on another high note against Australia

It has been quite the year for Irish rugby and no better way to finish it than by making a little more history at the Aviva Stadium this evening with a victory over Australia.

A first Test win in South Africa in June, the securing of Joe Schmidt’s services through to the 2019 World Cup and that long-awaited maiden victory over New Zealand in Chicago are plenty to celebrate, yet the head coach has asked his players to go to the well one last time and bid for success over the third great southern hemisphere nation.

Beating all three of the big guns in the same calendar year is no easy feat and the fact that England’s class of 2003 were the last to do so speaks volumes about the size of the task for a northern hemisphere country. That Martin Johnson went on to finish that year by lifting the William Webb Ellis Cup also points to the significance of such an achievement for so ambitious a squad as this group of Ireland players.