Ireland team v Wallabies: Winners and losers as rookie gets Andy Farrell’s ‘vote of confidence’ while others are ‘denied’ that ‘privilege’
Sam Prendergast and an insert of Ireland head coach Andy Farrell.
Andy Farrell has named his final Ireland team of the year as they host Australia at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin to close out the Autumn Nations Series.
The game, which is outside the official Test window, is part of Irish Rugby’s 150th Anniversary celebrations, with Farrell’s side wearing a specially produced one-off jersey.
For the clash, the Ireland boss has reverted to a teamsheet far more similar to the one that defeated Argentina a fortnight ago with a few key alterations.
We run through Farrell’s selections and pick out our winners and losers.
Winners
Sam Prendergast
It’s a real vote of confidence from the head coach, who has entrusted Leinster rookie Sam Prendergast with the starting number 10 jumper in what could be a real banana skin Test for Ireland.
Prendergast has impressed in his two appearances so far for the men in green but was lucky to avoid a red card against Fiji and therefore lucky to be actually eligible to be selected this weekend.
Farrell is fortunate that he does have Jack Crowley on the bench too if things do go pear-shaped for the young fly-half.
Cian Healy
On Saturday, 37-year-old prop Cian Healy will etch his name into the history books once again as he earns his 134th Test cap and surpasses Brian O’Driscoll’s tally to become the most capped Ireland player of all-time.
It’s a truly remarkable achievement from the front-row who has tweaked his game throughout the years to remain in contention for 15 long years after making his Test debut back in November 2009 against Australia.
His head coach rightfully praised the prop’s achievement when naming his team.
“It is a remarkable achievement considering the robustness of his position,” Farrell said.
“Cian is a giant of Irish rugby and we are determined to provide him with a performance that he deserves.”
Gus McCarthy
2024 has been some year for Leinster hooker Gus McCarthy who made his provincial debut in April before really breaking into the set-up this season. He took his opportunity in the Leinster blue with both hands quickly racking up six appearances and earning a place in the Ireland squad as a non-playing member aka training panellist.
His rise did not stop there as he impressed so much in training that the coaching team felt compelled to give him a crack on debut against Fiji where he got stuck right into the thick of it scoring a try and assisting a mind-boggling three more in a full 80-minute first appearance.
That shift saw him bank even more credit as he gets the nod ahead of more experienced hookers to take a place on the bench for the last game of the year.
Bundee Aki
Bundee Aki looked off the pace against New Zealand earlier this month and was duly dropped for the clash against Argentina a week later.
However, he was given a shot at redemption against Fiji last week and he rose to the challenge producing a man-of-the-match as he regularly punched holes in the Fijian defence and was equally excellent on defence.
This has earned him the opportunity to end off the year in the position he started it, starting in the number 12 jersey.
Andy Farrell favourites
There hasn’t been a great deal of rotation in the Ireland team this year as Farrell has clearly prioritised results over development after the World Cup disappointment last year.
In many areas of his teamsheet, changes have mostly been forced through injury or unavailability rather than rotation or rewarding form and that is highlighted by the fact that six players will end 2024 having played every single Test for Ireland.
Andrew Porter has started every single game in the number one jumper while the same is true for Joe McCarthy at four and Josh van der Flier at seven. Caelan Doris has played all but one match in the number eight shirt – against Italy where he started at six – while Robbie Henshaw has featured at 12 and 13. Finally, Tadhg Beirne has made appearances at lock and flank for the side and played in every game.
James Lowe missed just one match all year for Ireland while Crowley had started every game until the final two. It shows that Farrell clearly trusts a select few in his squad and would have likely stuck to much of the same players had it not been for injury.
Only time will tell if he has made an error in backing his favourites…
Craig Casey
Is this an indication that there is a shift in Farrell’s selection as Conor Murray makes way on the bench for his Munster teammate Craig Casey? For so long Murray has been seen as the ultimate finisher for Ireland with Casey often either starting or not playing at all. However, against Fiji, the livewire half-back produced the kind of performance that just couldn’t go unnoticed. A deserved and rare promotion particularly in 2024.
Losers
Jack Crowley
As mentioned above, Farrell has been loyal to players – perhaps even to a fault – in his selections, but even a strong start to the year has not earned Crowley the same privilege.
He lost his starting role last week against Fiji and this week has to deal with a spot on the bench as Prendergast gets the number 10 jersey for back-to-back Test matches.
The ball is now in Crowley’s court with the challenge of regaining the starting shirt next year.
Ciaran Frawley
Ciaran Frawley was rather impressive off the bench last week and his versatility means he is a great option to have amongst the eight replacements.
He linked up well with Prendergast on attack and will certainly feel hard done by that he is snubbed for the final game of the year. He was far from perfect against the All Blacks which may have factored into the decision.
Rob Herring
The rise of McCarthy has come at a cost for Rob Herring who misses out on the matchday 23 yet again. The Ulster hooker is often turned to when injuries occur and never lets the team down but is regularly discarded when those he filled in for return.
Brian O’Driscoll
O’Driscoll will always be a legend of the Ireland jersey and arguably – only recently after Johnny Sexton – his country’s greatest-ever player, but from Saturday he will no longer be the most-capped Irish star of all-time.
It was good innings for the legendary centre who sat at the top of the appearance leaderboard for a decade.
Unused players
Finally, the likes of Ryan Baird, Dave Heffernan, Nick Timoney, and Calvin Nash all return to their provinces with the same number of caps they joined the Ireland group.
The same is true for the other training panellists who did not force their way into the squad, namely Alex Kendellen, Shayne Bolton and Jack Boyle.
Perhaps the aforementioned players will all get their shot when Farrell is away with the British and Irish Lions next year with a host of the players will be featuring this weekend.
