Tale of the tape as Wallabies study 'class' Gibson-Park ahead of Ireland showdown

The sides face off in Sydney this weekend. 

IN FOCUS: Jamison Gibson-Park during an Ireland rugby squad training session at Leichhardt Oval in Sydney. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Attack might be in favour over defence across the world, but the Wallabies are once again preparing for an aerial assault by Ireland in Saturday’s Nations Championship opener in Sydney.

After being peppered and made to look silly by Jamison Gibson-Park last November, the Wallabies spent time conjuring up plans on how to stop Ireland’s main man.

The 34-year-old is no spring chicken, but the Leinster halfback’s lethal boot made the Wallabies’ back three, including young gun Max Jorgensen, look clueless at the Aviva during their 49-16 victory.

It’s why they spent time going through footage of Gibson-Park on Monday because if they stop the Irish maestro, they’ll go a long way to snapping their five-match losing streak to the men in green.

“I think he’s class,” said Wallabies halfback Ryan Lonergan. “I really like his passing game and his ability to almost ball play as a nine, who can really control their game and see space really well from the base of the ruck.

“It'll be exciting if I get to go up against him. He's been in the top three nines for a long time. We did a bit of a review on him this morning and [I’m] keen to get out there.” 

Fortunately for the Wallabies, especially outside backs Tom Wright and Jorgensen, the rain that has hung around Sydney for the past few days is expected to clear later in the week.

That will please Lonergan too, because the 28-year-old halfback, who is expected to start in the absence of Jake Gordon, didn’t exactly endear himself to Joe Schmidt after making his long-awaited debut for the Wallabies last year.

While club teams have been racking up cricket scores in finals across the world in recent months, Lonergan said he expected the big scores and adventurous play seen throughout Super Rugby and elsewhere to tighten up.

“I think there will still be a lot of contestables,” he said.“It's st ill a huge part of the game, particularly with the rules around escorting. That's just kind of how Test footy is played.

“It might open up a bit towards the back end of games, which you tend to see. But I don't expect to see huge changes around how the game will be played.

“We want to play an exciting brand of footy, but we also know what gets results, and particularly early on that aerial battle is massive.” 

But knowing it’s Schmidt’s last Test against his old nation, you can bet your bottom dollar that the ever pragmatic New Zealander won’t want to give Ireland an inch either.

Helping the Wallabies prepare is former halfback Nic White, who joined the team’s leaders last week before the rest of the squad returned on Wednesday. He’s also been working with the Wallabies’ halfbacks.

While the experienced Tate McDermott is back in action after his devastating hamstring injury last September, Lonergan and fellow No.9 Kelani Thomas have just a handful of Test caps between them.

Lonergan said White’s presence had been helpful, with the former niggly No.9 transitioning to coaching this year.

“He's primarily hanging around the nines,” Lonergan said. “He's another pathway between players and coaches because he's so fresh from playing, so he understands both views. It's special for Tatey, Kelani and myself and getting some feedback.” The Wallabies are expected to run out a tried and tested side against Ireland.

While some have questioned Taniela Tupou’s fitness after largely coming off the bench for new French Top 14 club Racing 92, scrum coach John Ulugia played down any concerns around the massive tight-head prop.

“The French Top 14 is quite a unique competition. Usually what they will have is their best scrummaging players on the bench to finish the games with dominant pictures, because that's the difference between winning and losing,” the former Clermont and Bayonne hooker said.

Meanwhile, Australian rugby copped another knock to start the week after confirmation that Dan McKellar, the former Wallabies assistant, had stepped down as Waratahs coach one year early.

The decision came after the respected coach, who cut his teeth as a player-coach at Wicklow in Ireland, faced the NSW Waratahs board on Friday after missing the finals for the second straight year.