Wallabies Eager For Ireland

The Age

Saturday June 24, 2006

GREG GROWDEN

Tonight's Test in Perth will show much about the Wallabies, Greg Growden reports

THE Wallabies' backs are a lot happier - they're no longer scared to make a mistake. Australia's coaching panel is even more delighted - tonight's Test against Ireland in Perth will provide the high-level physical and mental encounter required just before the season gets serious with the start of the Tri Nations.

The atmosphere at Camp Wallaby is the most relaxed it has been for some time - not surprising, considering the intense doom and gloom that surrounded the final months of the 2005 campaign, when only one Australian victory was scraped out of nine encounters, prompting a massive staff clean-out.

The effects of successive wins over the World Cup-holder this year has meant the dark clouds have separated. Whether the clouds lift entirely will depend a lot on what occurs at Subiaco Oval tonight.

So far, the signs are positive. Five-eighth Stephen Larkham has revealed the new Australian coaching panel's eagerness to allow the backs to use their heads has had the desired effect of revitalising numerous team members.

Scott Johnson, the Wallabies' back-line coach, has had a lot to do with that with his free spirit, which was so crucial in reviving the Welsh Test team immediately getting a response from the Australians. Before his arrival, the players were starting to wonder if they were battery hens rather than ballet dancers in footy boots.

It is early days, but a fresh outlook is allowing several crucial attacking players to stretch out their shoulder blades again, rather than feel inhibited by the pressures of their roles.

While the team's possession rate is not yet overflowing, gradual improvements upfront bring promise that life out wide could soon be flourishing, to the extent that Larkham again is relishing being Australia's prime playmaker. The handcuffs are off.

"Over the last two or three years, or even five years, we have been very structured in the first three phases," Larkham said yesterday. "It's now different, and the enthusiasm is a lot higher. If you do make a mistake, you're not going to get into any trouble over it. This creates a very good environment in the team.

"And that's what you're seeing on the paddock. Everyone is enjoying themselves at the moment - throwing the ball around, and trying to read it on the run. And we have really talented footballers who can do that across the park. Now we're just trying to get the forwards to be more involved in that - because that's where we want to move to."

Ireland captain, and the world's premier No. 13, Brian O'Driscoll has noticed the difference. "No discredit to the All Blacks, but I think the Aussie back line is probably a little bit smarter," O'Driscoll said yesterday. "They read the game extremely well, and early on exploit where they think you have frailties. It forces you to keep mixing your game up to keep them guessing. The second you get into a pattern is when they break you down."

Wallabies coach John Connolly is as relieved that after England proved no more than a minor irritation, his team will get a proper workout from an antagonistic, clever opposition. Even though Ireland has not won on Australian shores since 1979, it knows how to upset Australia with a bombastic in-your-face attitude, where it restricts mistakes to a minimum, and plays tight football. Whenever Australia has slackened off, Ireland has dominated, as in Dublin four years ago, and during the 2003 World Cup, where it so easily could have bumped the Wallabies out at quarter-final stage.

Australia feels threatened by aggressive foes, and Ireland, which twice stretched New Zealand, knows it can use that to its advantage. It is the type of international where everyone has to lift, which is why Connolly is happy that this Test comes only two weeks before the Tri-Nations opener in Christchurch.

The Ireland Test will remind every Wallaby, who may have been deceived by the England triumphs into believing that Test matches were a doddle, that international football is a mean business.

"This is the Test we have to have," Connolly said yesterday. "We need this game right at this moment. England give you a lot of opportunities. Ireland will give you absolutely nothing. It will be a totally different game to England.

"You won't get the same chances as you do against England, which at times was like playing a sevens match. Ireland will instead play between No. 8 and No. 10 all the time."

But Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan suggested yesterday that while his team may play tight, it also knows how to terrorise out wide.

"Our first Test against New Zealand could be described as a foot-race. Last weekend's Test against the All Blacks in the rain was a boxing match. With the fine Perth weather, I think this Test will be another foot-race," O'Sullivan said.

With the running spikes back on, a Wallabies victory is anticipated, but not guaranteed.

AUSTRALIA v IRELAND

Tonight, Subiaco Oval, Perth

TV: Fox Sports Two, 7pm

Australia: Chris Latham, Mark Gerrard, Stirling Mortlock, Mat Rogers, Lote Tuqiri, Stephen Larkham, George Gregan, Rocky Elsom, George Smith, Mark Chisholm, Dan Vickerman, Nathan Sharpe, Guy Shepherdson, Tai McIsaac, Greg Homes. Reserves: Jeremy Paul, Al Baxter, Wycliff Palu, Phil Waugh, Sam Cordingley, Clyde Rathbone, Cameron Shepherd.

Ireland: Girvan Dempsey, Shane Horgan, Brian O'Driscoll, Gordon D'Arcy, Andrew Trimble, Ronan O'Gara, Peter Stringer, Denis Leamy, David Wallace, Neil Best, Paul O'Connell, Donnacha O'Callaghan, John Hayes, Jerry Flannery, Marcus Horan. Reserves: Rory Best, Bryan Young, Mick O'Driscoll, Keith Gleeson, Isaac Boss, Jeremy Staunton, Geordan Murphy.

? Ireland has twice lost to Australia by a single point in the World Cup, with the Wallabies winning 19-18 in the quarter-final of the 1991 tournament, and triumphing 17-16 in the pool round in 2003.

? Their first meeting was in 1927, at Lansdowne Road, Dublin, with Australia winning 5-3.

? George Gregan has played against Ireland eight times, and has been on the losing side only once, in Dublin in 2002.

© 2006 The Age

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