As his side prepare to do battle with them at the Aviva Stadium this weekend, Australian prop Isaac Kailea has hailed the Irish pack as one of the best in world rugby at the moment.
Of both Tongan and Chilean descent, Kailea made his international debut for Australia in the first Test that Wales played on their Tour of the southern hemisphere nation back on July 6th of this year – the Wallabies emerging victorious on a score of 25-16 at Sydney Football Stadium.
That game was also Joe Schmidt’s first as head coach of Australia and loosehead prop Kailea – who is set to feature for the Waratahs in Super Rugby next year after previously lining out for Melbourne Rebels – has gone on to play in six of the 11 tests that the former Leinster and Ireland supremo has been in charge of since then.
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It remains to be seen if he will be named in the match day 23 for Saturday’s 150th anniversary bout in the Aviva, but having come up against a number of Tier One outfits since breaking into the Wallabies fold, Kailea believes the Irish forwards are among the most formidable on the international stage.
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“I think there’s a reason they’re probably one of the top-ranked teams in the world, their forward pack is real classy. When they’re close to the line they can maul it. They’ve got a couple of different options around the maul, the lineout and then their scrum is very powerful. Probably up there with some of the best in the world,” Kailea explained at a press conference in the Radisson Blu Hotel in Booterstown yesterday.
Considering he spent nine years in Ireland as an elite level coach with either Leinster or Ireland – bringing considerable success to both teams – Saturday’s game could be an emotionally charged one for Schmidt as he locks horns with Andy Farrell, who succeeded the New Zealander at the Irish helm in the winter of 2019.
Yet while he and his international colleagues are fully aware of how significant it is for Schmidt to be back in this part of the world, Kailea is placing a greater emphasis on what the game will mean from the perspective of Australian rugby.
“I think we’ve been focusing more on ourselves, considering it is the last game of the tour for us. I think we want to put a good performance out there for our fans back home. If we can finish the tour on a high I think we’ll be real happy with that.”
Having kick-started the current international window with an epic 42-37 triumph over England in Twickenham – before following it up with a convincing victory against Wales – the Wallabies will be hell bent on claiming another major scalp in the Aviva on Saturday.
They did suffer a 27-13 reversal at the hands of Scotland in Murrayfield Stadium last Sunday, but given his famed attention to detail, you can expect that Schmidt will be leaving no stone unturned in Australia’s bid to bounce back from that defeat. As Kailea outlined at yesterday’s press conference, the 59-year-old has also been putting a lot of work into the mental side of the game with the Wallabies players.
“His attention to detail and really focusing on your role pretty much throughout the week [has helped us]. Just so when it comes to the game time, you’ve run the reps out on the field and in your head. So when it comes to the game, you’ve played the game already through your head. You sort of know what you need to do and what needs to get done,” Kailea added.
