At a glance
Hansen: ‘Hunted’ Irish struggling
Ireland are feeling the pressure of being ‘‘top dogs’’ after their record-breaking 2018, according to All Blacks coach Steve Hansen.
Heading into Monday’s clash with France at the Aviva Stadium, Joe Schmidt’s side sit third in the Six Nations table and are still in with a shot of winning the championship, having bounced back from their opening weekend defeat by England with away wins against Scotland and Italy.
Their form, however, has been a long way short of that which won them a Six Nations grand slam, a first tour series win in the southern hemisphere for 39 years when they knocked off Australia and then carried them through last autumn unbeaten, a series of games which included a first win over the All Blacks on home soil.
That victory, above all others, created a huge sense of expectation, which has been a problem for them, according to Hansen.
‘‘I said it at the time when we played Six Nations fixtures this weekend: Tomorrow 3.15am (NZ time): Scotland v Wales, Edinburgh
Tomorrow 5.45am: England v Italy, London Monday 4am: Ireland v France, Dublin
Ireland that whoever won was going to be viewed as the No 1 team in the world and everyone is going to chase them,’’ Hansen said.
‘‘For us that’s something we’ve been used to. We’ve been ranked No 1 for 112 months now, I think, but people have seen Ireland as the top dog after they beat us, and that put a massive amount of expectation on the players and coaches.
‘‘Instead of being the hunters they are the hunted and it’s different. It’s different when you’re sitting at the top of the tree. It’s a different experience. Not many teams cope with it that well.’’
Hansen added he had been impressed by the ‘‘brutal’’ test matches he had watched so far during the championship.
‘‘They’re all capable of knocking off a big team,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, former Hurricanes captain Brad Shields joins Ben Te’o in returning to England’s starting lineup for their clash against Italy in London tomorrow.
Shields will run out at Twickenham at blindside flanker as England look to bounce back from their 21-13 loss to Wales in Cardiff last month, while Aucklandborn Te’o has been recalled to partner Manu Tuilagi in a centre.
Te’o was set to start the tournament opener against Ireland until he strained his side during the training camp in Portugal.
Tuilagi then made his first Six Nations start in six years. Te’o, at second-five, and Tuilagi, outside him, will start a test together for the first time in a potentially blockbusting partnership. Henry Slade, the centre in the three previous tests, is in the reserves.
‘‘[Te’o and Tuilagi] was always something we wanted to look at in order to develop another option,’’ England coach Eddie Jones said. ‘‘We’ve been really happy with Henry Slade, but this just gives us another way of playing, so we’re looking forward to it.’’
Among four other changes announced yesterday, Joe Launchbury was in the second row after Courtney Lawes was ruled out by a calf strain and Maro Itoje’s comeback from right knee ligament damage suffered a setback in training.
Ellis Genge has been rotated to start at loosehead prop, with Ben Moon going to the reserves, and Shields does the same, with Mark Wilson dropping to the bench, after his first Six Nations appearance against Wales.
Fijian-born winger Joe Cokanasiga will start in the Six Nations for the first time after making his championship debut in Wales. Jack Nowell failed to recover from a shoulder injury.
England have never lost to Italy. ‘‘Italy have played terrific games in the Six Nations,’’ Jones said. ‘‘They are fitter, physically stay in the contest a lot longer, and they are quite unpredictable in the way they attack.
‘‘We expect Italy to throw the ball around a bit so we are going to have to defend very well against their unpredictability, and when we have got the ball we have to use it wisely.’’
Sydney Morning Herald on Thursday suggested the Wallabies were investigated for matchfixing several years ago and that a sporting official had recommended that investigation be reopened.
The report alleged there was a ‘‘deep concern’’ about a Wallabies loss and there had been suspicious activity, including ‘‘very strange mistakes’’, in a test the Wallabies were widely expected to win.
The match in question was not identified.
Rugby Australia released a statement