The second of our featured Nations Championship rugby matches taking place on Saturday sees Australia clash with Ireland in Sydney and the pre-match betting suggests it will be a close contest
Australia vs Ireland, Nations Series, Saturday 4th July, Sydney, KO 12:10 (South African time)
Referee: Ben O'Keeffe (NZR)
Assistant Referees: Karl Dickson (RFU), Andrea Piardi (FIR)
TMO: Matteo Liperini (FIR)
Weather Forecast - Sydney
Australia:
Australia’s 2025 end of year tour results started with a narrow win in Japan before taking a dive as they lost to England (25-7), Italy (26-19), Ireland (46-19) and finally France (48-33).
In the 2025 Rugby Championship Australia eventually finished third with a record of 2 wins and 4 defeats. They started with a surprise victory in the first of 2 clashes with the Boks in South Africa. Two home matches against Argentina were thrillers with the Wallabies winning one of them but they lost home and away to the All Blacks.
In July 2025 Australia lost a 3 match home series against the B&I Lions 2-1, going down in the first 2 matches in Brisbane and Melbourne before taking out the final game of the series in Sydney.
Coach Joe Schmidt will be without Jake Gordon but welcomes James Slipper back into the squad. In the Nations Championship outright betting markets Australia can be backed at 14/1 to win the title with Hollywoodbets
Nations Championship Results and Fixtures: R1 Ireland (h), R2 France (h), R3 Italy (h), R4 England (a), R5 Scotland (a), R6 Wales (a)
Ireland:
Ireland had a rally good Six Nations earlier this year, finishing as runners up to France. Although their defeat (36-14) to Les Bleus in Paris in the opening round cost them a title tilt they bounced back with 4 straight wins, seeing off Italy (20-13) in a Round 2 home fixture, England at Twickenham (42-21), Wales in Dublin (27-17) and finally Scotland (43-21), also in Dublin.
In the North vs South 2025 end of year internationals Ireland lost to New Zealand (26-13) in Chicago before returning home to beat Japan (41-10) and Australia (46-19) but they ended with a defeat to South Africa (24-13).
Ireland have been hit by injuries with a whole host of absentees including skipper Caelan Doris and fly-half Jack Crowley. Andrew Porter, Mack Hansen and Tommy O'Brien are other regulars sidelined though injury and James Lowe is also unavailable for selection. Dan Sheehan takes over as captain.
In the Nations Championship outright betting markets Ireland can be backed at 6/1 to win the title with Hollywoodbets
Nations Championship Results and Fixtures: R1 Australia (a), R2 Japan (a), R3 New Zealand (a), R4 Argentina (h), R5 Fiji (h), R6 South Africa (h)
Recent Head to Head
Nov 2025 INT Dublin Ireland 46-19 Australia
Nov 2024 INT Dublin Ireland 22-19 Australia
Nov 2022 INT Dublin Ireland 13-10 Australia
Team News
Australia: 15 Jock Campbell, 14 Max Jorgensen, 13 Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, 12 Len Ikitau, 11 Dylan Pietsch, 10 Carter Gordon, 9 Ryan Lonergan, 8 Harry Wilson (captain), 7 Fraser McReight, 6 Rob Valetini, 5 Josh Canham, 4 Jeremy Williams, 3 Allan Alaalatoa, 2 Josh Nasser, 1 Angus Bell.
Replacements: 16 Brandon Paenga-Amosa, 17 James Slipper, 18 Taniela Tupou, 19 Lachie Shaw, 20 Tom Hooper, 21 Tate McDermott, 22 Ben Donaldson, 23 Tom Wright
Ireland: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Robert Baloucoune, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Jamie Osborne, 10 Sam Prendergast, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Jack Conan, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Cian Prendergast, 5 James Ryan, 4 Joe McCarthy, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Dan Sheehan (captain), 1 Tom O’Toole
Replacements: 16 Ronan Kelleher, 17 Jeremy Loughman, 18 Thomas Clarkson, 19 Tadhg Beirne, 20 Nick Timoney, 21 Craig Casey, 22 Ciaran Frawley, 23 Bundee Aki
The Betting
Updated 03 July 00h31
Australia 11/10
Draw 21/1
Ireland 0.78/1
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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Betting Angle
Bet: Australia v Ireland
Posted 03 July 00h32
2 units (1-5) Australia win at 11/10 at World Sports Betting
This should be a cracking contest and, at one stage, I was seriously considering the winning margin market where either team could win by 7 points or fewer.
In the end though, I found myself drawn towards Australia. The Wallabies have a habit of starting their international seasons well and I would actually have made them slight favourites for this game.
The squad should also be relatively fresh, with several weeks having passed since the end of the Super Rugby regular season and the opening round of the playoffs. By contrast, I get the feeling this Irish side could be carrying a bit more physical and mental fatigue.
This is certainly not my strongest call of the weekend, but I’m happy enough to back Australia to start the series with a victory.
The total points line is set at 53.5 and I think the bookmakers have pitched that number about right, so I’m happy to leave the totals market alone for now.
I may, however, be back on Saturday morning with another bet if something catches my eye closer to kickoff.
More Rugby Bets
This week we have previews and Brent Graham’s bets for New Zealand vs France, Australia vs Ireland and South Africa vs England. More Nations Series and World U20 Championship bets from Brent and other members of our community will be posted on the weekly rugby thread on our brand new discussion forum. If you haven't done so already, register a forum account here.
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
