White: Why we must win
Wallabies halfback Nic White feels the team “let down” head coach, Dave Rennie and his backroom staff when they lost to Italy in Florence and said they are determined to bounce back against Ireland in Dublin this Sunday.
White was not in the matchday squad for the 2827 loss against the Azzurri, which was their first-ever defeat in the fixture.
The 32-year-old admitted that they needed a rest after a long and arduous season but said it’s important to use their current disappointment as motivation to get their Autumn Nations Series campaign back on track.
“We need to lean it on, it’s about channelling that (disappointment) which we’ve spoken about,” White told Rugby Australia’s official website.
“The boys were properly gutted after the game, it was really flat as you can imagine, really quiet.
“We don’t want that to hamper performance so we need to channel it the right way.
“The way we can do that is being fully focused on what can help us win this week and put out a good performance. It’s about immersing yourself into your position and getting the role right.
“We need to put out a good performance because anything short of that isn’t going to be good enough.”
The clash gets underway at 8am.
Line-ups Ireland:
15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Mack Hansen, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Jimmy O’Brien, 10 Johnny Sexton (c), 9 Jamison Gibson Park, 8 Caelan Doris, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Peter O’Mahony, 5 James Ryan, 4 Tadhg Beirne, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Dan Sheehan, 1 Andrew Porter
Replacements: 16 Rob
Herring, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Finlay Bealham, 19 Joe McCarthy, 20 Jack Conan, 21 Craig Casey, 22 Jack Crowley, 23 Bundee Aki.
Australia: 15 Andrew Kellaway, 14 Mark Nawaqanitawase, 13 Len Ikitau, 12 Hunter Paisami, 11 Tom Wright, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Nic White, 8 Rob Valetini, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Jed Holloway, 5 Cadeyrn Neville, 4 Nick Frost, 3 Allan Alaalatoa, 2 David Porecki, 1 James Slipper (c)
Replacements: 16 Folau Fainga’a, 17 Tom Robertson, 18 Taniela Tupou, 19 Will Skelton, 20 Pete Samu, 21 Jake Gordon, 22 Noah Lolesio, 23 Jordan Petaia
Match officials
Referee: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand); Assistant Referees: James Doleman (New Zealand), Tual Trainini (France); TMO: Stuart Terheege (England)
- Planet Rugby