Ireland to wear special jersey against Australia to celebrate 150 years

"Saturday’s Test match is a significant milestone in the story of Irish rugby. Aside from the 150th celebrations, for Cian Healy it presents the opportunity to break the Test cap record, which is a remarkable achievement considering the robustness of his position. Cian is a giant of Irish rugby and we are determined to provide him with a performance that he deserves.

"We have seen steady improvements over the last few weeks and the visit of a strong Wallabies presents another challenge for the squad. There has been a collective determination to drive forward and finish the Autumn Nations Series on a high."

"If I look at our lineout defence, we probably would have liked a bit more pressure in the air. We enjoy getting after teams in the air.

"In those first couple of games, against Argentina, it didn’t help that we got a couple of yellow cards in the forward pack, so there were different moving parts and so on.

"Against Fiji, it was much better. Cormac Izuchukwu obviously started and he did very well. The defence did very well in the air. That’s been a big strength of ours and we enjoy that part of the game. Certainly for this game [Australia], we’re looking to bring that up another level.

"Schmidt’s rugby brain, his strike plays are always world-class. That’s a conversation that we’ve had. There is going to be something that we probably haven’t seen.

"So, for us, it’s just making sure we are loaded for everything really, defensively, because I’ve no doubt he will have a few tricks up his sleeve."