Schmidt: Australia will be ‘very difficult to contain’
Ireland may be going into the final game of the November series with two wins under their belts, but head coach Joe Schmidt warned that Australia would provide a tough final test.
Speaking in the build-up to the final game in the Aviva stadium on Saturday evening, Schmidt was asked how the Wallabies compared to Ireland’s opponents in the first match of the series, South Africa.
“I think if you put Jan Serfontein or Jean de Villiers on a nice straight line running they would do similar damage to Tevita Kuridrani,” he said.
“I think (Henry) Speight is incredibly powerful - a powerful runner, he’s a tackle breaker, a little bit like JP Pietersen.”
He also saw important differences between the sides.
“I do think the sheer bulk of the South African pack is not matched by the Australians, but the Australians have a very efficient line-out. There are differences.”
He highlighted some areas Ireland would have to focus on if they were to get a win 12 months after being beaten by the southern hemisphere side.
“They use probably more variety in their line-out which means you’ve got to do a bit more work to try and shut that down or challenge it,” Schmidt explained.
“At scrum time the Australians have been shown to cop a fair bit of pressure and it’ll be really interesting to see if we can keep it stable from the very start.
“That would be probably something that we struggled with last season, with their hit and chase.”
He was asked if he saw much difference since ex-Leinster coach Michael Cheika took over the side.
“Mostly just in a couple of set-ups,” he responded. “The personnel are the same and they don’t suddenly change the way they play.”
Australia were beaten last weekend by their hosts in the Stade de France, but Schmidt felt the result could easily have been different.
“I think that they’ll be disappointed with their result against France,” he said. “They’ll probably be disappointed with a few aspects of their play.”
He added: “Having said that they almost stole it at the end.
“They score with about three minutes to go, and convert and they were within three points. They go the length of the field from the kick-off with some really dynamic play and that’s what they’re capable of.
“And if they turn that on against us, they're gonna be very very difficult to contain.”
*Breakingnews.ie reporter Shaun Cronin spoke to Irish Examiner rugby correspondent Simon Lewis about the upcoming match.
