Mark Cashman is the editor of Inside Rugby - Australia's leading specialist rugby magazine - and a regular rugby contributor on WWOS.com.au

SATURDAY 15 NOVEMBER
IRELAND V AUSTRALIA
Venue: Croke Park, Dublin.
Kick-off: 2.00am (Monday, November 16 AEDT)
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (RSA)
Centrebet Odds: Ireland - $1.79, Australia - $2.03.

A rolled ankle, a tweaked calf muscle and the emergence of Will Genia as a scrumhalf of international quality have made life hell this week for Ireland’s Australian-born defence coach Les Kiss.

The bad ankle and the dodgy calf aren’t injuries sustained by anyone in the Grand Slam winning Ireland squad that will take on the Wallabies in the early hours of Monday morning Australian time. They are injuries to Wallabies Berrick Barnes and Stirling Mortlock as the Grand Slam tour got into full swing – both have been ruled out for the rest of the tour.

You see Kiss and the Ireland backroom don’t have much background on the Australian players who have come through to take Barnes’ and Mortlock’s place. Quade Cooper and Digby Ioane don’t have much history at Test level at the moment, but had storming games as the Wallabies put England to the sword last weekend at Twickenham.

“Yeah there has been a bit of scrambling going on as far as those guys are concerned,” Kiss told the Ruggamatrix podcast earlier this week.

“There’s not much recent vision of them and the way that they performed against England last weekend they will have to be watched closely in defence.”

It’s not only Cooper and Ioane that the Irish have been scrambling to do their homework on.

New scrumhalf Genia, who put in a man of the match performance last weekend at Twickenham, has been so influential that the Ireland analysis team has been trawling through many of his performances for the Queensland Reds at Super14 level. A hand injury meant that the promising No.9 didn’t start in a Test match until the Wallabies great effort against the Springboks in Brisbane in August.

“All those factors considered what would have been a fairly staright forward week in terms of analysis has had a definite edge to it,” Kiss added.

Wallabies coach Robbie Deans has been stressing this week the need for his side to step up another level if they are to be competitive against the champions of Europe. Success has been coming thick and fast since Declan Kidney took over this Ireland side that has copped its fair share of criticism for not delivering when it mattered most.

They washed away 63 years of hurt earlier this year when they captured the Six Nations grand slam, a feat that culminated with an edge of your set win over Wales. There is a huge amount of expectation there now for the men in green and of all the Home Countries they look the hardest to toss as the Wallabies revist the effort of the 25th Wallabies in 1984.

The Wallabies coped extremely well with the side to side game that England came up with at Twickenham last week but they can expect a more direct style of game against the Irish. The heart of the Ireland grand slam victory was the ferocity of their work at the breakdown and that will be the winning of this Test match at Croke Park.

Rocky Elsom, David Pocock and Wycliff Palu will know that they have been in a game by the end of the 80 minutes. Jamie Heaslip, David Wallace and Stephen Ferris work well as a combination and the Aussies cannot afford to drift in or out of this encounter.

Many were surprised by the Irish selectors going for Ulster man Paddy Wallace at inside centre, but he has been in good form and will take the ball to the Wallabies. Kiss has consistently said that Ireland skipper Brian O’Driscoll is the best defensive No. 13 that he has worked with. He is able to adjust his defence to suit the occasion and with the likes of Cooper and Ioane about he will have to be at the peak of his game.

Field position, a positive kicking game and the ability to snaffle the chances that present themselves will play a key role in deciding the winner of this absolutely absorbing Test match.

The Wallabies would have been pleased that they gave themselves five maybe six scoring chances last weekend against England. At Croke Park on Sunday one, maybe two chances, will be there for the taking against this frugal Ireland side.

The side that has done its homework and takes those chances will be the one who heads away happy.

CASHO’S TIP: Wallabies by three.

DID YOU KNOW?
THE Australian influence in Irish Rugby remains strong, with the national team, the reigning European champions, and among the other top provinces. Alan Gaffney and Les Kiss assist with Ireland while three of the four Irish provinces are headed up by, or were recently headed up by, Australians – with Munster coached by Tony McGahan and former Brumbies coach Laurie Fisher, while Leinster have Michael Cheika in charge, and Ulster were last season prepared by the ex-NSW Waratahs boss Matt Williams.

All Venues: Australia 19 wins, Ireland 8 wins
In England: Australia 9 wins, Ireland 3 wins
In Australia: Australia 10 wins, Ireland 5 wins
At Neutral venues: No instances

THE LAST MEETING (in Australia) - Australia 18, Ireland 12, at Melbourne, June 14, 2008
Australia regained the Lansdowne Cup and kicked off the Robbie Deans era with a win, but only after a hard-fought contest where each side scored two tries. It took just five minutes for Berrick Barnes to post the first Wallaby try of the year, but Ireland proved a tenacious opponent, keeping the result in the balance until the very end. Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll scored the only try of the second spell to get the visitors to within six points, but they could close no further during a scoreless final 18 minutes. The win was the Wallabies’ ninth consecutive success against Ireland in home matches dating back to the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987, and came on a night where Luke Burgess, Peter Hynes and Dean Mumm all made their Test debuts.
For Australia: Tries by Berrick Barnes and James Horwill; conversion and 2 penalty goals by Matt Giteau. For Ireland: Tries by Denis Leamy and Brian O’Driscoll; conversion by Ronan O’Gara.

THE LAST MEETING (in Ireland) – Ireland 21, Australia 6 at Dublin, 19 November, 2006
Ireland captured the Lansdowne Cup for just the second time, scoring the only two tries of a dour contest at Lansdowne Road. The home side led 15-3 at halftime and always controlled the match, restricting Australia to just a solitary penalty goal in each half. The win avenged a defeat in Perth earlier in the year, while handing John Connolly’s tourists their only loss from four on the 2006 Spring Tour.
For Ireland: Tries by Denis Hickie and Geordan Murphy; conversion and 3 penalty goals by Ronan O’Gara. For Australia: 2 penalty goals by Stirling Mortlock.

THE TEAMS -
IRELAND: 15. Rob Kearney, 14. Tommy Bowe, 13. Brian O'Driscoll, 12. Paddy Wallace, 11. Luke Fitzgerald; 10. Ronan O'Gara, 9. Tomas O'Leary; 8. Jamie Heaslip, 7. David Wallace, 6. Stephen Ferris, 5. Paul O'Connell, 4. Donncha O'Callaghan, 3. John Hayes, 2. Jerry Flannery, 1. Cian Healy. Reserves: 16. Sean Cronin, 17. Tom Court, 18. Leo Cullen, 19. Denis Leamy, 20. Eoin Reddan, 21. Johnathan Sexton, 22. Keith Earls.

WALLABIES: 15. Adam Ashley-Cooper, 14. Peter Hynes, 13. Digby Ioane, 12. Quade Cooper, 11. Drew Mitchell; 10. Matt Giteau, 9. Will Genia; 8. Wycliff Palu, 7. David Pocock, 6. Rocky Elsom, 5. Mark Chisholm, 4. James Horwill, 3. Ben Alexander, 2. Stephen Moore, 1. Benn Robinson. Reserves: 16. Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17. Matt Dunning, 18. Dean Mumm, 19. George Smith, Luke Burgess, 21. Ryan Cross, 22. James O’Connor.