Foolish to write off Aussies - O'Sullivan

Ireland coach Eddie O’Sullivan has told his players to ignore Australia’s losing streak, declaring: “Write the Wallabies off at your peril.”

Australia arrive in Dublin on the back of seven straight defeats and will endure the worst sequence of results in their proud history should they fail to end their slump at Lansdowne Road on Saturday.

They have taken consolation from the knowledge all seven losses were against heavyweights New Zealand, South Africa, France and England and they were never outclassed in any of those matches.

But although this is no vintage Wallaby outfit – their lengthy injury list has seen to that – O’Sullivan has warned that George Gregan’s men will have pinpointed Ireland as the chance to end their miserable run.

“Australia are a battle-hardened side. The tough thing for them is they have not played badly, they have just been unlucky,” he said.

“They did really well against France and were unfortunate. France scored a fantastic try that only France can score and the other try was a blockdown that killed them off.

“They have not been doing a lot wrong. They just can’t win and that is why they will be dangerous on Saturday. They will think they can win and will target us as the turn-around to their tour.

“They have a point to prove. It would be foolish to take anything out of their recent losses. I believe you write the Wallabies off at your peril.”

Australia’s Achilles heel has been their lightweight tight five and nowhere was this better highlighted than at Twickenham last Saturday where England destroyed the tourists at the scrum.

The Wallaby scrum was described as a “disgrace” by former All Black skipper Sean Fitzpatrick and O’Sullivan admits Ireland will also be looking for a handsome return at the set-piece.

“We are certainly going to test them at the scrum. They struggled against England but their scrum was incredibly powerful with Andrew Sheridan in a monster front row,” he said.

“England targeted Australia there because they have that size in the front row. We will have a go at them and see where we get. However, our whole gameplan is not based around dominating Australia at the scrum.”

What Australia lack up-front they make up for in the threequarters with a string of strike runners such as Matt Rogers and Lote Tuqiri, who are capable of tearing defences to shreds – even behind a back-pedalling pack.

“Australia play a very patterned game. They are very well structured and organised. They have some excellent game-breakers in their backline,” said O’Sullivan.

“They have a good mixture of evasive players and guys who take the ball into contact. Wendell Sailor and Lote Tuqiri take two or three defenders out in the contact while guys like Matt Rogers are very elusive.

“But we are not a million miles from them – we have some useful players in the back who can do plenty of damage.”