Ireland wait on Flannery fitness news
Ireland will wait for an injury update on hooker Jerry Flannery before finalising their line-up for Saturday’s clash with Australia.
Head coach Declan Kidney names his team for Ireland’s autumn opener at Croke Park at lunchtime tomorrow with Flannery’s condition the outstanding concern.
Flannery, an automatic pick if fit, is nursing a calf injury and Kidney will make a final check on him tomorrow, with John Fogarty or Sean Cronin on standby to deputise.
The number two jersey in Ireland A’s team to face Tonga in Belfast on Friday has been left open until the senior team’s selection has been finalised.
Otherwise the only other area of debate would appear to be at inside centre, where Gordon D’Arcy and Paddy Wallace are in contention.
D’Arcy is likely to get the nod, leaving Ireland with just one change to the side that defeated Wales 17-15 in March to clinch the Grand Slam – should Flannery get the green light.
Prop Marcus Horan, who started in Cardiff, has been ruled out until the new year after undergoing an unspecified medical procedure, so Cian Healy will come in.
Horan’s Munster team-mate John Hayes completed his five-week ban for stamping on Saturday and will go straight into the front row despite his recent lack of match time.
Kidney has frequently spoken of the need to develop a squad but given it is the Wallabies visiting Dublin this weekend, experimentation would appear unlikely.
Fiji six days later are opposition better suited to trying out new combinations, with Ireland’s autumn reaching its climax against world champions South Africa the following week.
Ireland have beaten Australia just twice in their last seven meetings, dating back to 2002, and only eight times out of 27 in total.
The Wallabies arrive in Dublin buoyed by their 18-9 victory over England at Twickenham last Saturday but coach Robbie Deans is mindful of Ireland’s achievements this year.
“I don’t know if the challenge of facing Ireland will be that different to England,” he said.
“The first 20 minutes will be full on as they’ll come out very passionate in front of a capacity crowd.
“We’ll have to weather that and get going ourselves. You don’t get to be Grand Slam champions lightly.
“They’ll have a lot of belief because of what they did in the Six Nations.
“If you combine that with playing at Croke Park, they’ll take some containing.”
