'No fear': Doris draws on victory over Portugal to fire Ireland up for Wallabies test

Garry Ringrose, Josh van der Flier, Ciaran Frawley and Jacob Stockdale were in attendance at the Aviva Stadium for Thursday's victory over Portugal.

Ireland rugby captain Caelan Doris. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Caelan Doris wants his Ireland team to take inspiration from the heroics of the nation’s footballers when they face Australia at Aviva Stadium on Saturday but the captain said it would need a performance of equal passion to stoke an equivalent big-match atmosphere.

Doris and the rest of Ireland’s matchday squad watched the Republic of Ireland’s 2-0 victory over Portugal from the team hotel having only been able to secure four tickets for the sold-out FIFA World Cup qualifier on Thursday night. Non-playing squad members Garry Ringrose, Josh van der Flier, Ciaran Frawley and Jacob Stockdale did attend as two goals from Troy Parrott and the sending off of Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo kept qualification hopes alive in front of a raucous Aviva Stadium audience.

Now the skipper is hoping his team can generate a similar atmosphere for Saturday night’s sell-out rugby crowd.

“There was good excitement watching it,” Doris said on Friday after leading the squad in the captain’s run training session at the Aviva. “It was class. The atmosphere here was unbelievable and we'll be looking for something similar tomorrow.

“I think it comes when there's passion in how they're playing. You could see there was no fear really in how they played, they just kept attacking and were quite cohesive in that. There was a nice reaction when Ronaldo got sent off as well. It was class and very cool to watch.” 

Asked if he took inspiration from Thursday night’s game and an Irish victory, Doris replied: “Definitely. The biggest thing is through how they play, the knock-on reaction they can have with the supporters and the passion you see. So, it's a late kick off for us tomorrow night and hopefully we can get them going.” 

Doris, 27, recalled some famous nights for Ireland that were standout moments in his 53-Test career.

“Playing Australia last year in the 150th (IRFU anniversary game) was a pretty good one. It wasn't the best performance from us, but in terms of atmosphere and in terms of uniqueness that was up there.

“What always comes to mind is New Zealand in 2021. Post-covid, there was a lot of excitement about having fans back and fans coming back to games, so atmosphere-wise that was class.

“France 2023 here at home in Six Nations was up there as well. The World Cup games, different gravy altogether, but again, the common denominator across those games is how we've played, and that's what we want to show - proper desire, proper chasing the game down and attacking it."