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: tbc
Ireland: tbc
The Betting
Average early show, subject to change
Australia 17/20
Draw 21/1
Ireland even money
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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Betting Angle
To follow
Bets: to follow
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.
