Ireland’s Autumn Internationals series will wind down with a big match against Australia at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday. The men in green will be hoping to finish on a high note after some struggles with fluency and discipline across their autumn tests. They now get the chance to sign off in style, but can they dig deep and do it?
Overall, it has been another thrilling series of tests for Ireland, who have probably learned quite a bit about where they currently stand. Thanks to some indifferent performances and things not going as smoothly as expected, they have at least been able to take a look at their next generation of players, and find out what their chances are of landing the Six Nations title again in the spring.
Will Ireland be able to raise themselves for one final effort against the visiting Wallabies? Nothing less than a convincing win for Andy Farrell’s men will be expected by the partisan crowd. Follow the fixtures at Tonybet before kick-off at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday 30th November at 15:10 GMT.
Ireland have work to do after their imperfect autumn
Ahead of the series, Ireland were hoping for a 4-0 Grand Slam from the fixtures, but the best they can hope for now is to close out the Autumn Internationals with just a W3 L1 record under their belt. The fact that they are going into it with a W2 L1 record from the games played so far is a positive, as it could have been worse. There are clearly areas of Ireland’s game for the coaching staff to iron out though.
Ireland 13-23 New Zealand
There were such high hopes of Ireland pulling off a success against the All Blacks in their Autumn Internationals opener. Heading into it, Ireland were fuelled by a desire for revenge after having lost in the previous World Cup to New Zealand. The Irish also had a good recent record against the All Blacks, so the energy at the Aviva was high.
However, the hype and hope fizzled out quickly. Ireland stuck in there and were only down by three points at the break against the tourists, but in the second half, it looked as if all their best-laid plans had been left in the dressing room during the break, as the men in green produced one of their worst performances in some time.
It was disjointed and error-strewn, and the performance on the pitch failed to put any wind in the sails of the thousands who had turned up to watch. Ireland couldn’t get into the game offensively in the second half, unable to break their routine planned phases of play to shake up the game.
Their discipline was also poor, and no green shirts were threatening from anywhere. Phases continued to peter out with a lack of cohesion, and Ireland’s 19-match unbeaten home run came to an end.
Overall, the match just never lived up to its billing, and this was mainly due to the Kiwis not letting Ireland play, for which they deserved a huge amount of credit.
Ireland 22-19 Argentina
Ireland had the chance of redemption a week later against Argentina, but another below-par, frustrating performance saw them only just get over the line against the Pumas. Ireland were expected to have the bit between their teeth and prove that the performance against the All Blacks was just a very rare blip.
Ireland ran in two tries in the first five minutes of the encounter and were sauntering along. Things were looking bright in Dublin again. However, it was all too brief, and Ireland almost made the autumn worse after almost throwing away a commanding half-time lead.
More problems with their discipline saw Ireland reduced twice to 14 men in the match against the South Americans. Finlay Bealham went to the sin bin after being called out for a croc roll, and then try scorer Joe McCarthy went there in the second half.
Ireland couldn’t stop giving away penalties, the issue bleeding over from their loss against the All Blacks. In the second half, the Pumas kept creeping closer. Argentina, after keeping Ireland off the scoreboard in the entire second half, were camped out in the Irish 22 in the final moments of the game, looking for that final score to pick up a momentous victory. A knock-on denied them with the clock in the red and Ireland’s blushes were saved.
It was a thriller in the end, but Ireland should never have put themselves in that position and were saved by Argentina failing to make the most of their numerical advantage. Ireland won ugly, but ultimately it was a win and sometimes that’s all that matters.
Ireland 52-17 Fiji
There was a much brighter feeling with Ireland’s thumping win over Fiji. Victory was always expected in the match against a team that on paper were easily the weakest that the Irish were scheduled to face in the Autumn Internationals.
The reason why this was a good game for head coach Andy Farrell had nothing to do with the scoreboard. He rested several senior players, in total making seven changes to his starting line-up from the Argentina game, giving the likes of Rob Herring and Gus McCarthy a chance in the front row, while Sam Prendergast got his chance to shine at number 10.
Prendergast is expected to put pressure on teammates Jack Rowley and Ciarán Frawley for the fly-half spot moving forward. After a composed performance, he did his chances of getting game time at the 2025 Six Nations no harm at all.
The game against Fiji was a great audition stage for a fair few of Ireland’s next generation, who put a little bit of shine on what hasn’t been a particularly golden autumn of test performances.
Australia seek a final burst of success
Australia have had mixed fortunes on their Northern Hemisphere tour. They kicked things off on a real high as they went to Twickenham and produced a thrilling 42-37 result against England, having started the match as big underdogs.
One of the main talking points of the match was Rugby League convert Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii lining up for his first start, and the Aussie wildcard produced a stunning performance. There was a touch of composed, maverick brilliance from the 6ft 5in back.
After having finished bottom of this year’s Rugby Championship, the Wallabies’ win in London came completely out of the blue. They won the game in the dying seconds with a brilliant, bold move out wide, a real touch of that old Australian magic. The result naturally made people sit up and take notice – had the Wallabies turned the tables?
Australia are a team still in transition under Joe Schmidt, who only took over in the hot seat this year, and are looking to rebuild and find balance in their set-up. However, they continued their free-scoring with a 52-20 win in Wales, before going north to face Scotland in their third match of the tour. Could they make it three from three, setting up a big finale in Dublin?
They couldn’t. The Wallabies were blown away once Scotland had settled into the match. The Scots made Australia look like a completely different side from the one that had beaten England and they were just trampled all over. Scotland ran at them from wide and with an invention that quickly tired out the tourists, whose tackles just fell away, and Australia’s hopes of a clean sweep, their first since 1984, were crushed.
Can Ireland produce the performance we’ve all been waiting for?
Ireland haven’t played good rugby during this autumn series of tests, but there should be better to come. Given that this one against the Wallabies is their final match until the Six Nations, it’s not hard to imagine that Ireland will produce their best, especially on the day that Irish rugby is celebrating its 150th anniversary.
A convincing win will put the rest of the campaign behind them, and will have them looking forward instead of backwards in regret. But can they get there? Former Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt will know what’s coming as he takes his Australia side to Dublin. The Wallabies are leading the head-to-head, having won 22 of their previous 37 tests against the Irish.
The last time the two nations met was in 2022. This was a horribly disjointed match that ended up being a thoroughly forgettable affair in which Ross Byrne kicked a late penalty to give Ireland a 13-10 victory. This gave them back-to-back wins over the Wallabies and three in their last five.
Farrell will recall his senior players in the hope that the enforced rest will have helped to reboot the mission, but they could be without Jamie Osborne and Jacob Stockdale. Australia will be forced into some changes with Will Skelton not available, Samu Kerevi out through suspension, and a potential injury to their rising new star Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, who hurt himself after smashing into Scotland captain Sione Tuipulotu last weekend.
The chance at Ireland’s clean autumn sweep has gone, but the importance of winning well in Dublin at the weekend is still huge for different reasons. Ireland need to regain their identity, and a little bit of self-respect. They must also get the crowd back on their side.
If you’re looking forward to the big clash, then you can follow along with all the latest pre-match and in-play odds here at Tonybet as part of our extensive rugby betting service.
