David Campese says teams starting to 'rumble' Ireland and hits out at rugby league influence on game

Teams are starting to "rumble" Ireland and they will have to adapt quickly or else they will "fall apart", former Australia wing David Campese has warned.

Andy Farrell's side will face a resurgent Wallabies side in 10 days’ time in Dublin, a match-up that sees Joe Schmidt return to Ireland where he was head coach between 2013 and 2019.

Ireland are ranked number two in the world and are the Six Nations champions but have lost three of their last six games.

Discipline has suddenly become a major issue with Ireland conceding 26 penalties in the last two games, a defeat to New Zealand and a narrow win over Argentina, with both matches filled with uncharacteristic errors.

Prior to the Autumn Nations Series, Ireland claimed a series draw against South Africa but were overpowered and out-played for large spells across the two Tests and needed a brace of late dropgoals from Ciarán Frawley to win the second game.

Despite a superb opening-round Six Nations victory over France, Ireland didn’t get close to that level in wins over Italy, Wales and Scotland, while they missed out on a Grand Slam shot with a lacklustre defeat in England.

Campese’s broadside against Ireland, and "the rugby league influence of Andy Farrell," comes ahead of Schmidt’s return.

The New Zealander led Ireland team to three Six Nations titles during his tenure, but his final year was a disaster as the side lost two championship games and were beaten by Japan in the pool stages of the World Cup.

The charge, back then, was that Ireland had been figured out by opposition and failed to adapt.

In 2023, as in 2019, it was New Zealand, beaten in 2018 and twice in 2022 by Ireland, who knocked the Irish out of the World Cup at the quarter-final stages.

"I think people are