Ireland captain Caelan Doris admits the comments from the Fiji camp that Ireland are “vulnerable” adds needle to tomorrow’s Autumn Nations Series game at the Aviva Stadium (kick-off 3.10pm).
Fiji have never beaten Ireland in their previous five meetings while Ireland will look to record their second win of this international window.
Fiji scrum-half Frank Lomani described Andy Farrell’s team as being “so vulnerable that we as a team and as a group we can counter that”. Fiji come into this game after recording their first ever win on Welsh soil with a 24-19 win in Cardiff two weeksSa ago while they beat Spain 33-19 last Saturday. Doris agrees the “vulnerable” description add a bit more spice to tomorrow’s encounter.
“Yeah I think so. I mean we definitely respect them, how they play. The two things you look at are their pace and their skillset, the way they throw the ball around, but also they’re a very powerful team,” Doris said after today’s Captains Run at the Aviva Stadium.
“It’s going to be a very physical game. I remember the one a couple of years back for how physical it was. It’s going to be the same tomorrow and looking forward to the challenge of that.
“I think they’ll probably be confident based off a couple of their results and how they’ve gone against Wales and Spain last week.”
Even though Ireland conceded 13 penalties for the second week in a row last week (as well as two yellow cards in their win over Argentina), Doris says belief is still high in the camp.
“If it’s off the discipline they’re looking at, I’m not sure exactly, but there’s a lot of belief within our camp still. We feel we have the right people showing us the way and there’s excitement about what we can do. The discipline has obviously been talked about a lot and it’s been an area that has been very good for us historically, so we’re looking forward to getting back on track there tomorrow.”
Doris’ Leinster team-mate Gus McCarthy will make his international debut at hooker while Ulster back-rower Cormac Izuchukwu starts at blindside flanker in his first cap.
What’s the message to the new players?
“Enjoy it is the big one that we always speak about. The two lads in particular getting their debuts this week, they’re pretty calm and confident players and people anyway. They’ve come in pretty seamlessly,” Doris added.
“You look at Gus in particular, who’s only 21, and he’s a had a pretty steep rise from captaining Blackrock a couple of years ago to 20s to Leinster to Emerging Ireland, so he’s had a pretty seamless transition the whole way and he’s settled in really well in the group, trained really well and he’s got his well-deserved opportunity now.
“And Izzy as well has showed his class, he’s gone on a bit of a longer journey through the sevens and whatnot and then he’s showed his class in Ulster over the last season or so. I feel they’re definitely both ready and I’m looking forward to seeing how they go tomorrow.”