Angus Bell ready for extended Irish chapter as Joe Schmidt's Wallabies land in Dublin

The prop is part of the Australia squad preparing to face Ireland this weekend.

DUE NORTH: Ulster-bound Angus Bell during the Australia Rugby media conference at the Radisson Blu St Helen's Hotel in Dublin. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Angus Bell is getting acclimatised to Ireland. The impressive Wallaby prop joins Ulster on a short-term sabbatical after these November internationals and he got some research done on the flight to Europe by watching Kenneth Brannagh’s ‘Belfast’.

He still has a way to go. A remark on how cold the weather is here went uncontested, as if no-one had the heart to tell him that the island is currently enjoying something of an Indian summer. He’ll know all about winter soon enough.

That education continues on Saturday when he will feature for an Australian team that has shown real glimpses of life under Joe Schmidt, but one reeling from a defeat to Italy in Udine last week. That was their eight loss in 13 Tests so far in 2025.

“No-one in the group enjoyed that changing-room after and I guess that just feeds into the hunger to go out there and stick to our systems and then build into a really big performance this weekend against Ireland,” Bell explained after the squad’s Monday debrief in their Dublin base.

“It's been alluded to everywhere that Ireland are a top-three nation in the world. They've seriously come a long way and are now a real powerhouse within rugby. So we're just excited for the challenge and to right a few wrongs and take the opportunities that present themselves this weekend.” 

Ireland have their own issues, as we know, but Bell was hardly gilding the lily in describing Tadhg Furlong and Andrew Porter as “world-class operators”, or as “the pinnacles of front row play at the moment”.

As for Schmidt, he returns to the city he knows so well hampered by the news that he won’t have the powerful Will Skelton available after the La Rochelle lock injured an ankle playing Top 14 last weekend.

James O’Connor has joined the squad and adds to their options at No.10 where Carter Gordon lined out last weekend and, in the process, became the sixth player to act as Wallaby playmaker in the calendar year.

The last Wallaby coach to lose to Italy was Dave Rennie, in 2022, and it ultimately cost him his job. Schmidt has already confirmed his attention to move on next year and hand the reins over to his former Ireland assistant Les Kiss.

That doesn’t mean there isn’t pressure on the former Leinster coach. The Italian loss leaves them requiring wins against Ireland and France to sneak inside the top six of the rankings and give them a top seeding in their home World Cup in 2027.

It’s hard to see, but Schmidt has asked the public back home to stick by them.

“I would just reiterate what Joe said,” said Bell. “We’re putting heaps of emphasis on our growth and getting better each week. Some execution errors really, really affected us on the weekend, and they're things we're really trying to fix.

“We’re excited for the weekend. Being a part of the Wallabies, you're not just a part of it, it's a privilege every time you pull in my jersey. We want to get a result this week. We know that these next two games are really important for us as a group and leading into the future.” 

The suspicion is that the Aussies are running out of puff after the exertions of their three-Test Lions series, six Rugby Championships ties and a Northern Tour that started with a close encounter with Japan in Tokyo before a defeat to England in London.

Bell is adamant that they have “enough petrol in the tank” and, while he wasn’t bigging it up, there is an understanding that a big performance and a win would be that bit more special for their head coach this time around.

“One hundred per cent. We know Joe has foregone a lot of family time to be with us and we know how much it means to him to coach us. We are a really tight group, we all respect Joe so much as a coach and what he’s done in the game and absolutely it’s a motivator.

“For not only Joe but the rest of the staff as well who have put in a lot of time away from home, and then also to do it for the players. We’ve got 35 roughly here. For those players who don’t get the privilege to wear the Wallaby gold, we are doing it for them too.”