Gregan expects tough test

Wallabies captain George Gregan believes Ireland will provide Australia with the ideal World Cup litmus test in tomorrow’s hotly-anticipated Pool A showdown.

After their high-pressure opening win over Argentina, Australia had the luxury of breezy victories over Romania and then Namibia, games in which the fringe players got a run and the busiest people in the stadium were those keeping note of the try-scorers.

Gregan is delighted with the manner in which Australia put both minnows to the sword with clinical, efficient ease, but against such little resistance it is often hard to judge progress.

And so comes tomorrow, where the winner will book a quarter-final appearance against either Scotland or Fiji, leaving the defeated in Melbourne to take on the dangerous French.

“We’ve done some good things in the past two games but our opponents haven’t been at the level of tomorrow night so it’s going to be a good test to see how we can cope with the pressure,” Gregan said today.

“We judge ourselves on the standards we set. We were happy with the way we started those matches and maintained our standard and discipline throughout the games.

“To amass that amount of points takes a disciplined effort and it’s important to carry it on into tight matches.

“There are things that won’t go our way tomorrow night and we have to be good enough to deal with it.”

Gregan said the Australians had never taken seriously talk from the Irish camp that Eddie O’Sullivan might choose to name a weakened side.

As it turned out, they were right and the line-up that will take the Telstra Dome field is arguably stronger than either that which beat Australia in November or lost to the Wallabies in June.

Gregan dismissed all previous encounters as “irrelevent“, but they have noticed very clearly where Ireland have improved.

Back is Keith Wood, which “gives them more intensity in the way they play” and of course, there is Brian O’Driscoll.

All week the Wallabies have been asked just how much they fear the 24-year-old who stunned Australia on the British Lions tour two years ago.

The conditions and opposition have hampered O’Driscoll so far this World Cup, but the roof will be on the Telstra Dome and with Ireland already in the last eight, the “shackles will be off“.

Eddie Jones’ selection of Matt Burke at outside centre ahead of Stirling Mortlock was reportedly made with O’Driscoll in mind, and Gregan elucidated why.

“He’s a big game player. He likes a big moment. Tomorrow night is a big moment. He’ll play well, that’s pretty much a given,” said the Wallaby skipper.

“He is one of those gifted players, who can turn a game individually.

“He can chip and chase, he can make a line break, he can come up with a big tackle and a turnover – he’s that sort of player.

“He mightn’t do it all the time, but he has a tendency to do it at big times in big matches. That makes him very dangerous.”

The flu bug that was sweeping through the camp has subsided.

“Everyone (apart from Dunning) trained today,” said Gregan.

“We have been taking the anti-oxidants. No one is bed-ridden. It was important to finish the week in a really sharp manner.”

Prop Matt Dunning, in hospital for anti-biotics on an infected elbow, will be discharged tomorrow.