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June Internationals: Australia v Ireland Preview

June Internationals: Australia v Ireland Preview

Australia will be looking to seal their three-match Test series with a win over the Irish on Saturday the 16th of June.

Ireland will be looking to keep the series alive when they take on the Australians out in Melbourne this Saturday. The tourists succumbed to a nine-point defeat last week, which has led coach Joe Schmidt to make a raft of changes to his starting XV.

 Australia v Ireland

Saturday 16 June
AAMI Park
12:00

To Win (80 Mins)
Australia 7/10

Draw 18/1
Ireland 5/4

Handicap
Australia (-2.5) 9/10

Ireland (+2.5) 9/10

Australia
They may have been playing against a weakened Irish team but the Wallabies were still extremely clinical during last Saturday’s 18-9 victory. Fly-half, Bernard Foley, had an absolute blinder scoring his side’s opening try and kicking eight points from the tee. He also caused the Irish defence all sorts of problems when he carried the ball to the line.

Another man who stood out of last week’s friendly was the returning David Pocock, who scored a try and was a constant threat at the breakdown winning a numerous turnovers and slowing the Irish ruck ball down.

In terms of team news for this week, Michael Cheika has opted to stick with the same Matchday 23 team for the first time since he took over the Wallaby reigns.

Ireland
It didn’t come as a massive shock to see the Irish go down to the Australians last week as they were playing a handful of youngsters in key positions. However, this week will be a different story with experienced men like Johnny Sexton and Tadgh Furlong returning to the run-on side.

There’s also space for Leinster centre Garry Ringrose who comes into the midfield in place of Bundee Aki. Ringrose’s devastating angle running should help keep the Australian midfield, who dominated last week’s fixture a lot busier.

Verdict: Ireland 15/4
I fancy the Irish to bounce back here. The return of Johnny Sexton will add a lot of guile to the backline while Tadgh Furlong will help sure up the scrum. 

Written by Darry Worthington for Hollywoodbets

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