Hayes to be Healy's mentor

Ireland prop John Hayes has been told to act as a minder to Test debutant Cian Healy – the player he left bloodied in a brutal stamping incident last month.

Hayes will take his customary position at tighthead for Sunday’s autumn opener against Australia, just one week after completing a five-week suspension for raking his studs down Healy’s face.

The offence occurred in Munster’s 30-0 drubbing by Leinster on October 3, Hayes receiving a red card for the assault on Healy as he lay exposed at the bottom of a maul.

Fast forward six weeks, and the combatants will become team-mates for the first time when Healy takes his Test bow as reward for his blockbusting provincial form.

The 22-year-old replaces Marcus Horan, who has been ruled out until January after undergoing an unspecified medical procedure.

“One of the great ironies of sporting life is that John took a sabbatical for a few weeks and now he’s in to mind Cian!” said Ireland’s head coach Declan Kidney.

“Cian has looked good all season. I wish Marcus well, but the two of them would have been battling for the position.

“Marcus’ injury made the decision easier, but Cian had been playing well and merits selection in his own right.”

Healy has developed into a fine scrummager and shifts his 17-and-a-half-stone frame around the pitch surprisingly quickly, contributing to his growing reputation as a powerful ball carrier.

Ireland, desperate to unearth some cover for the long-serving Hayes-Horan axis, will examine his debut closely – and Healy is determined to seize his chance.

“It’s a dream come true – it’s what I’ve wanted since I’ve been a child. It will be a special and unbelievable experience,” he said.

“I was hoping for this but I didn’t expect it to happen. It was just a case of trying my hardest for Leinster and seeing what happened.

“I’ve been told to play as myself and not to try and do anything I’m not comfortable with. I’ll be nervous, but it’s more ’enjoyable’ nerves. It will be a tough few days, trying to sleep.”

Separating Hayes and Healy at the scrum will be Jerry Flannery, the Munster hooker who has recovered from his calf problem in time to face the Wallabies.

Flannery’s game time this season has been significantly limited by injury, while Hayes has spent more than a month serving a ban.

But Kidney dismisses concerns they will be ’under-cooked’.

“You can either moan about it or get on with it. If you spend the present thinking about the past, the future passes us by,” he said.

“If you wait for the ideal in this job it will never happen. John and Jerry are looking forward to the game, and that’s the important thing.”

Ulster’s Paddy Wallace is preferred ahead of Gordon D’Arcy at inside-centre, while there are two uncapped players on the bench in Connacht hooker Sean Cronin and Leinster outside-half Jonathan Sexton.

In total there are only two changes to the side that clinched the Grand Slam with a 17-15 victory over Wales in March, Healy replacing Horan and Wallace coming in for D’Arcy.

Captain Brian O’Driscoll will make his 100th Test appearance on Sunday, having accumulated 93 caps for Ireland and six for the Lions.