Ireland using Australia tour to gear up for 2019

Joe Schmidt is treating Ireland’s tour of Australia as a rare opportunity for the Six Nations champions to “trial things” before 2019.

Playing their first Test matches since winning the Grand Slam earlier this year, Ireland have arrived in Australia to take on the Wallabies.

And with next year’s Six Nations already on the agenda, along with the subsequent World Cup, Schmidt acknowledges he will not have many further opportunities to test new combinations and tactics.

“We want to make sure this tour is another building block for what comes in the future,” the coach said before travelling.

“We’re going to have a big target on our forehead for [the Six Nations] next year and then obviously, beyond that, the really big tournament which follows in September and October is the World Cup.

Early start for the lads this morning. Airport bound for tour. #TeamOfUs #TeamOfBus pic.twitter.com/cBuVK5298z

— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) June 1, 2018

“We don’t have too many options to trial things between now and then. This will be an opportunity to do some of that. It’s going to be incredibly tough and that’s when you find out about players in those situations

“How do they cope? What growth can we get out of this tour to make sure that we’re on a slightly stronger footing when it comes to playing Italy in Chicago [in November]?”

KEO.co.za News wire is powered by opta