While England chop and change in search of salvation after defeat by Australia, Ireland have kept all but two of the grand slam-clinching side together for their first international of the autumn, against the Wallabies at Croke Park on Sunday.
The only changes from the side who beat Wales at the Millennium Stadium in March are Cian Healy, the loose-head prop who wins his first cap, and Paddy Wallace, who is preferred to Gordon D’Arcy at inside centre.
Healy, the 22-year-old Leinster forward, replaces Marcus Horan, who is out until at least the new year with a head injury.
He will pack down alongside Jerry Flannery, the Munster hooker, who has recovered from a calf strain, and John Hayes, who has returned from a five-week suspension for stamping — ironically on Healy in a Magners League match.
Declan Kidney’s gradual overhaul of his squad means that there are two uncapped players on the bench, Sean Cronin, the 23-year-old Connacht hooker, and Jonathan Sexton, the 24-year-old Leinster fly half, who will soon be pushing Ronan O’Gara for a starting place.
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Ireland have beaten Australia only twice in their past seven meetings dating back to 2002, but both victories were achieved in Dublin.
The international will feature Rocky Elsom, the Australia captain, returning to Dublin for the first time since leaving Leinster, for whom he played such an important role in the province’s success in last season’s Heineken Cup.
The 26-year-old flanker leads a side showing one change from that which beat England 18-9 at Twickenham on Saturday, with George Smith, the flanker, dropped in favour of David Pocock, the 21-year-old, who will win his fourteenth cap for the Wallabies this weekend.
“The game in Ireland is on a massive high at the moment,” Robbie Deans, the Australia head coach, said. “The Irish team has momentum — having won its last eight Test matches — and it has the confidence that mastering the art of winning consistently brings. Playing them now is a great challenge, but one that we are all looking forward to.
“Getting a result last weekend was a great confidence booster for the whole squad, but we know that the standard we produced last week won’t be good enough against this Irish team.
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“There was an uncertainty about England, in terms of the transitional nature of their development as a team, that doesn’t pertain to Ireland.
“The Irish are an established and experienced combination who are used to and expect to win every time that they play.”
Ireland: R Kearney (Leinster); T Bowe (Ospreys), B O’Driscoll (Leinster, captain), P Wallace (Ulster), L Fitzgerald (Leinster); R O’Gara (Munster), T O’Leary (Munster); C Healy (Leinster), J Flannery (Munster), J Hayes (Munster), D O’Callaghan (Munster), P O’Connell (Munster), S Ferris (Ulster), D Wallace (Munster), J Heaslip (Leinster). Replacements: S Cronin (Connacht), T Court (Ulster), L Cullen (Leinster), D Leamy (Munster), E Reddan (Leinster), J Sexton (Leinster), K Earls (Munster).
Australia: A Ashley-Cooper; P Hynes, D Ioane, Q Cooper, D Mitchell; M Giteau, W Genia; B Robinson, S Moore, B Alexander, J Horwill, M Chisholm, R Elsom (captain), D Pocock, W Palu. Replacements: T Polota-Nau, M Dunning, D Mumm, G Smith, L Burgess, R Cross, J O’Connor.