Ireland v Australia preview

British and Irish Lion -half Conor Murray has been dropped by to face on Saturday.
The star sees rival Eoin Reddan getting the nod at No.9 in one of six changes to the team that beat 40-9 in Dublin last week.
Luke Marshall will start at inside centre instead of veteran Gordon D’Arcy with the fit-again Jonny Sexton replacing Paddy Jackson at fly-half.
Up front, Paul O’Connell, Sean O’Brien and Cian Healy all return to the starting line-up after being rested against the Pacific Islanders.
O’Connell will also captain the side from lock while O’Brien and Healey take over from Chris Henry and Jack McGrath at openside and loosehead.
Head coach Joe said: “Conor did well last week, as did Gordon, but we’re coming at selection with an open mind, so it’s about giving different people an opportunity. This game offers Eoin and Luke an opportunity to put their hands up.
“Coming into this series we had a mindset we would try to grow the squad to a degree, not to have to rely on the same starting fifteen.
“We were delighted with Paddy, and it’s unlucky for Paddy, but we just feel Ian Madigan gives us more cover off the bench.
“Johnny was rested last week and he comes in fresh. Gordon spent time with Luke during the week making sure he can be as good as possible for this weekend.”
Sekope Kepu and Scott Fardy return to the fold for the taking over from the rested Ben Alexander and Rob Simmons
Simmons, who played at in the 50-20 thumping of Italy last week, returns to the engine room alongside James Horwill with Sitaleki Timani dropping to the bench.
Head coach Ewen McKenzie said: “The breakdown is always a key area to any game, but Ireland has been especially vocal this week on the importance they are placing on attacking us there.
“It will be important for us to be extremely accurate at the breakdown, but overall we’ve gone with a forward pack that is quite capable of dominating in that area, especially with one of our best operators in Scott Fardy coming back from injury.
“We’ll be looking forward to the challenge and also to the opportunity of building some momentum by winning back-to-back games for the first time this year.”
“They’ve been able to find the try line quite a bit over the past month and you can sense they are feeling more comfortable and confident in each other and how we want to play the game,” he said.
“Still, we’re under no illusion that these games are won up front, and we’ll continue to have high expectations that our forwards will provide us with a strong platform from which to play from.”
Ireland: Rob Kearney, Tommy Bowe, Brian O’Driscoll, Luke Marshall, Fergus McFadden, Jonny Sexton, Eoin Reddan; Cian Healy, Rory Best, Mike Ross; Devin Toner, Paul O’Connell (Capt.); Peter O’Mahony, Sean O’Brien, Jamie Heaslip.
Replacements: Sean Cronin, Jack McGrath, Stephen Archer, Mike McCarthy, Kevin McLaughlin, Conor Murray, Ian Madigan, Robbie Henshaw.
Australia: Israel Folau; Adam Ashley-Cooper, Tevita Kuridrani, Matt Toomua, Nick Cummins; Quade Cooper, Will Genia; James Slipper, Stephen Moore, Sekope Kepu; Rob Simmons, James Horwill; Scott Fardy, Michael Hooper, Ben Mowen (Capt.).
Replacements: Tatafu Polota Nau, Benn Robinson, Paddy Ryan, Sitaleki Timani, Liam Gill, Nic White, Christian Leali’lifano, Joe Tomane.

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