Ireland v Australia: All You Need to Know

A successful 12 months for Irish rugby so far, but there's still one big night left before they sign off.

Ten games, eight wins and two defeats, a Triple Crown, a series win versus New Zealand, victory against the world champions, but thankfully the sense that there are improvements still to be made.

Ireland haven't fully hit their attacking straps in this Autumn Nations Series; the 19-13 win against the Springboks was never going to be the game for free-flowing rugby, while last week's victory against Fiji was disjointed and sloppy.

Australia should focus the minds, even if Dave Rennie's side are in desperate form. Eight defeats from 12 games in 2022, they two-time world champions have looked a shadow of their former selves, but games between these two sides are rarely one-sided.

While Ireland have won four of their last five meetings, all four of those have been one-score games. It's more than four years since the sides last played each other, with Ireland's scheduled two-Test series Down Under in 2020 cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

TV Ireland v Australia is live on Virgin Media Two and Amazon Prime, with coverage on both beginning at 7pm.

RADIO Listen to live commentary on a Saturday Sport special on RTÉ Radio 1 from 8pm.

ONLINE Follow a live blog on RTE.ie/sport and the RTÉ News App followed by a match report, player ratings and post-match reaction from the Aviva Stadium.

WEATHER After pleasant weather for the first two games of the Autumn Nations Series, it's going to be a lot more wintery this weekend. Temperatures will be around 8 or 9C on Saturday evening in Dublin, with rain also expected before and during the game.

Neither team were happy with their showing last week, but for Ireland head coach Andy Farrell he