The last action on the 2024 international rugby calender comes from Dublin on Saturday where Ireland take on Australia
Ireland v Australia, Sunday 24th November, Edinburgh, KO 17:10 (South African time)
Referee: Andrea Piardi (FIR)
Assistant Referees: Nika Amashukeli (GRU), Gianluca Gnecchi (FIR)
TMO: Eric Gauzins (FFR)
Weather Forecast: Dublin
Ireland:
Ireland put Fiji away 52-17 last week but victory came at a price with injuries to Jamie Osborne and Jacob Stockdale who will be absent here along with Tadhg Furlong and Ryan Baird.
Ireland's end of year program started against the All Blacks and New Zealand came out on top, 23-13, a defeat which ended a 19 game winning streak in Dublin. After that Ireland beat Argentina 22-19 but after controlling the first 40 minutes they failed to score a single point in the second half.
Ireland's mid year tour of South Africa saw the series shared 1-1. They lost the first test 27-20 but squared things up with a nail biting 25-24 victory in the second contest whilst early in 2024 they won 4 of 5 6 Nations matches on their way to the title.
Australia:
Former Ireland coach Joe Schmidt brings the Wallabies to Dublin on the back of a 27-13 defeat to Scotland at Murrayfield last week. It was a close contest for just over half the game but Scotland rain in 3 tries in the second half to put the contest to bed.
Earlier results in the Autumn Series had been very encouraging. The Wallabies had thrashed Wales 50-22 in Cardiff, scoring 8 tries in total including hat tricks for Matt Faessler and Tom Wright. In their first tour match a late try from Max Jorgensen sealed a thrilling 42-37 win over England at Twickenham.
Prior to that the Wallabies Rugby Championship campaign delivered just the 1 win and 5 defeats and they finished with the wooden spoon.
Team News
Ireland: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Mack Hansen, 13 Robbie Henshaw, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 James Lowe, 10 Sam Prendergast, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Caelan Doris (captain), 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Tadhg Beirne, 5 James Ryan, 4 Joe McCarthy, 3 Finlay Bealham, 2 Ronan Kelleher, 1 Andrew Porter.
Replacements: 16 Gus McCarthy, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Tom O’Toole, 19 Iain Henderson, 20 Peter O’Mahony, 21 Craig Casey, 22 Jack Crowley, 23 Garry Ringrose
Australia: 15 Tom Wright, 14 Andrew Kellaway, 13 Joseph-Akuso Suaalii, 12 Len Ikitau, 11 Max Jorgensen, 10 Noah Lolesio, 9 Jake Gordon, 8 Harry Wilson (captain), 7 Fraser McReight, 6 Rob Valetini, 5 Jeremy Williams, 4 Nick Frost, 3 Taniela Tupou, 2 Brandon Paenga-Amosa, 1 James Slipper
Replacements: 16 Billy Pollard, 17 Angus Bell, 18 Allan Alaalatoa, 19 Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, 20 Langi Gleeson, 21 Tate McDermott, 22 Tane Edmed, 23 Harry Potter
Recent Head to Head
Nov 22 Dublin INT Ireland 13-10 Australia
Jun 18 Sydney INT Australia 16-20 Ireland
Jun 18 Melbourne INT Australia 21-26 Ireland
Jun 18 Brisbane INT Australia 18-9 Ireland
The Betting
Updated 29 November 12h14
Ireland -15.5 points at 9/10
Australia +15.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
Posted 29 November 12h14
I was well out with my suggested handicap, expecting this game to be -8.5 Ireland, but in fact it opened at -16.5 which has come into -14.5 at the time of writing. The points line is set at 52.5 and indications are that there could be some rain about in Dublin on Saturday evening.
Ireland have not yet fired in this November Series while Australia have looked very good at times, but were disappointing last week against Scotland where after a strong opening 10 minutes they never really got into the game. They looked tired to me and Coach Schmidt will have to have them fired up for this one. This is certainly a game he would be targeting even if it is against the team he previously coached. I am looking for improvement from Australia and I think they can push the Irish in this one.
BET: 4 Units, Ireland +14.5 at 9/10 at HollywoodBets*
*If you are not signed up yet, please use this link to open your account at Hollywood
I probably will get involved in the points markets, but that bet will be placed in the Goodforthegame Forum closer to kick off and once weather conditions are confirmed.
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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