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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Michael Scully

'We know what's coming' - Andy Farrell predicts Wallabies backlash in Dublin after Italy loss

Andy Farrell says Ireland know what's coming from a hurt Australia side on Saturday.

The Wallabies lost to Italy for the first time last Saturday but the Ireland boss is expecting a different Australia to turn up at the Aviva Stadium.

Like Ireland, who earned a 35-17 victory despite a disappointing performance against Fiji, the Wallabies rested plenty of frontliners at the weekend and Farrell predicts that the visitors will be at full strength for the clash in Dublin.

READ MORE: Nick Timoney: 'Had I not shown up it might have been my last time playing for Ireland'

The Wallabies came close to beating France the previous week and that's the challenge that Ireland are gearing up for as they look to make it a record equalling nine wins in a row on Lansdowne Road.

"You look at their side and they made plenty of changes, probably looking at us this week," he said. "It will certainly focus the mind.

"We know what's coming. Looking at the performance with a similar side that is probably going to be put out against us in Paris last week, was probably more like it.

"They were very strong, especially set-piece-wise they went after the French and nearly got the big 'W' over there.

"That's the type of game we're expecting."

It remains to be seen if skipper Johnny Sexton, Ireland player of the year Josh van der Flier, Andrew Porter, Hugo Keenan, Robbie Henshaw, Joey Carbery and Jimmy O'Brien are available this week.

Asked if the drop off in standards against the Fijians was down to the absence of Sexton, Farrell replied: "No, it's not just Johnny.

"Look at the experience that is out of the side - Not just the injured lads, it's Bundee (Aki), Iain Henderson, Keith Earls not being here.

"Certain people understand their role and their fit in the side. They're able to be themselves and go after that - they are comfortable in their own skins.

"When you're missing so much, then people know they need to try to fill that vacuum but they need the experience of being able to do that at the same time.

"At least we know where we're at. I'm not worried, it is what it is.

"There's a lot of big characters who were not in the changing-room, I'm big on how you make people feel or how certain people make people feel and we'd different leadership going on this week in all sorts of areas, it's something we need to get to the bottom of and keep progressing with.

"Sometimes you get a performance and it leads you into a false dawn.

"It's good, especially off the back of a win to get into the bones of it, to dig down deep and see what the reality is."

Farrell said the most disappointing aspect of the performance was the "poor" start by his side, claiming that the team's "spirit" was " a bit off" in the early stages, plus the lack of a clinical edge.

"Not putting the game to bed early was not like us," he reflected.

"The game was always in the balance for a long period. That was through our doing.

"The players 100% know. We're able to assess this game properly and learn from it and move on this week."

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