Ireland bid to hit the ground running

Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt expects the full complement of 32 players to train tomorrow on Queensland’s Gold Coast as the Grand Slam winners begin preparations for Saturday’s opening Test against Australia.

The Irish squad landed in Brisbane on Saturday evening having left Dublin 24 hours earlier. They travelled an hour to Surfers Paradise on the shores of the Pacific Ocean, to recover from the long-haul flight and jet lag before a first full training session tomorrow.

With captain Rory Best a late withdrawal from the touring party due to a hamstring injury, the head coach called up Munster hooker Niall Scannell as a replacement and he expects to have all his players available for training.