Preview - Ireland v Australia

As the November series eases over its half-way mark, less is often asked about the teams and more about the coaches, particularly when the teams are just not performing.

Chris LAtham: Head and shoulders above the rest aganst England

Saturday's encounter brings together two coaches facing this kind of pressure, although there the similarity ends.

The trials and tribulations of Eddie Jones are rapidly moving beyond the humorous and starting to become painful. Jones has done an exceptional job during his three-year tenure on a budget which he once admitted England would laugh at, taking the team to a World Cup final among other things, but the apparent lack of extensive support, the kind of support given to New Zealand and England, is undermining him badly.

Jones' problems - the chief one currently being to avoid becoming the Australian coach who has lost the most games in a row of all time - are also to some extent self-inflicted, in that he has failed to take opportunities on offer to experiment and give upcoming players enough of a grounding.

Where other coaches have shown a willingness to experiment and develop a player pool - resulting in the current Graham Henry-led trend of taking a fully interchangeable squad of thirty-five players all roughly at the same skill level on a tour - Jones has stuck manfully to his chosen few, resulting in the rut in which the Wallabies currently find themselves.

The rapid emergence of Drew Mitchell has been the clearest marker yet that Jones might have missed some tricks by not turning to youth on occasion, even it if meant losing the odd Test match. We are yet to see what Lloyd Johansson can do at centre, for instead of calling upon him for what is possibly Australia's easiest tour match, Jones is still sticking to playing Lote Tuqiri out of position.

Johansson would probably not have saved Australia at Twickenham, but he would have benefitted immensely from being in the starting XV, as would many of the other younger players brought on this tour.

By the time it gets to Cardiff next week, it will be too late for the match to count on this tour, and there will be quite a few young hopefuls who arrived in France eager to build a little experience but have since spent a month watching from the side. Ten minutes here and there is all very well, but eventually there has to be a chance for a full match.

Still, Jones' team's on-pitch problems on this tour have been in the scrum, and even the notoriously cut-throat Australian media has been voluminous in its support of Jones' calls for more specialist forward coaching.

It may come, but it is doubtful whether it will come in time for Jones, whose admission that forthcoming debutant Greg Holmes probably isn't ready for international rugby and needs to work on his scrummaging was either the mind game of a tactical genius or the resigned mental shrug of the shoulders that signifies a white flag being waved.

Eddie O'Sullivan is not in that boat yet, but Ireland do not look to be progressing forward much either. Brilliant as the All Blacks were, Ireland were pretty awful last weekend, and the pressure is on O'Sullivan's men to turn it up against Australia and secure a stabilising win.

He is at least showing that willingness to experiment and make changes. The start he has afforded to Andrew Trimble at the expense of Anthony Horgan shows that nobody's place in the team is sacrosanct, and although Ireland may be experiencing something of a lean time at sub-international level, the competition for international places is healthy indeed, which is never bad.

Whether O'Sullivan has the required depth of talent is a moot point - domestic results suggest a less than fruitful harvest of home produce at the moment - but if the competition for places is there, the hunger will be there as well.

And so to Saturday, when Ireland are unlikely to strike at anything else but the forwards, keeping the ball well away from the potent counter-thrusts of Chris Latham. Australia's day in the forwards could be a long one, but if they can pressure Ronan O'Gara into inaccurate kicks and force handling errors out of the opposition then they have the firepower to win the game easily.

A close one to call, but Australia's run of luck has so far been dire indeed. Perhaps they will burgle the luck of the Irish this time.

Players to watch:

For Ireland: The obvious choice: Andrew Trimble. Eddie O'Sullivan said he didn't think it would be the best time to blood Trimble for a first cap opposite New Zealand. Instead the much more gentle task of shackling Lote Tuqiri awaits the 21-year-old on his debut. Maybe O'Sullivan though Ma'a Nonu wouldn't be enough of a challenge...

For Australia: The form player for Australia currently is a man who possesses every credential to take over as captain when George Gregan's tenure finally ceases. Chris Latham's performance against England was fantastic, and had Australia not fallen to the might of the Sheridan, he could easily have won the man-of-the-match award. Australia must hope he is on form, for they don't have much else to offer in the way of creativity at the moment.

Head-to-head: Marcus Horan v David Fitter. Taking on one of Ireland and Munster's most mainstaying props is the task facing the uncapped Fitter, who really is Australia's last hope in the scrum. Fitter has only played "about 180 minutes of Super 12 footy in five years" according to Eddie Jones though, so he might be a touch rusty. Can he pull off a miracle and save his coach's hide?

Prediction: Australia to 'rush defend' the Irish out of it and win by three points.

Recent results:

2003: Australia won 17-16 in Melbourne
2003: Australia won 45-16 in Perth 
2002: Ireland won 18-9 in Dublin
1999: Australia won 23-3 in Dublin
1999: Australia won 32-26 in Perth
1999: Australia won 46-10 in Brisbane
1996: Australia won 22-12 in Dublin
1994: Australia won 32-18 in Sydney
1994: Australia won 33-13 in Brisbane
1992: Australia won 42-17 in Dublin
1991: Australia won 19-18 in Dublin

The teams:

Ireland: 15 Geordan Murphy, 14 Shane Horgan, 13 Andrew Trimble, 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Tommy Bowe, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Peter Stringer, 8 Denis Leamy 7 Johnny O'Connor, 6 Simon Easterby (c), 5 Malcolm O'Kelly, 4  Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 John Hayes, 2 Shane Byrne, 1 Marcus Horan.
Replacements: 16 Rory Best, 17 Simon Best, 18 Matt McCullough, 19 Neil Best, 20 Kieran Campbell, 21 David Humphreys, 22 Girvan Dempsey.

Australia: 15 Chris Latham, 14 Mark Gerrard, 13 Lote Tuqiri, 12 Morgan Turinui, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Mat Rogers, 9 George Gregan (c), 8 George Smith, 7 Phil Waugh, 6 John Roe, 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 Hugh McMeniman, 3 David Fitter, 2 Brendan Cannon, 1 Greg Holmes.
Replacements: 16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 Al Baxter, 18 Mark Chisholm, 19 Scott Fava, 20 Matt Henjak, 21 Lloyd Johansson, 22 Wendell Sailor.

Date: Saturday, November 19
Kick-off: 14.30
Venue: Lansdowne Road, Dublin
Weather: Fair, 10°C
Referee: Chris White (England)
Touch judges: Tony Spreadbury (England), Tappe Henning (South Africa)
Television match official: Huw Watkins (Wales)