LAST WEEKEND'S STAND-IN IRELAND captain Tadgh Furlong expects the 'wounded animal' Australia will arrive in Dublin 'all guns blazing' for the final game of the Autumn Nations Series next Saturday.
Due to Johnny Sexton's omission Furlong became the 109th player to captain his country last Saturday in the 35-17 win over Fiji. Ireland fought hard for the win, but will be looking for answers in regards to their performance, Australia even more so.
The two-time World Cup champions sensationally lost to Italy for the first time. Italy won 28-27 in Florence in the Autumn Nations Series.
Australia have lost 11 of 15 Tests during the past year, and Furlong is expecting a reaction from the southern hemisphere side.
"I saw the result when I came off the pitch," said the prop.
"I suspect they are (a wounded animal). They're a very proud nation. I'm sure they'll be all guns blazing next week."
Tadhg Furlong is expecting Australia to come to Dublin and look to bounce back from the defeat to Italyhttps://t.co/1kl7REcoUr
— PA Sport (@pasport) November 13, 2022
Adding on what it was like to lead out his country for the first time, the prop added: "There's stuff added to your prep that's just a little bit different but I've enjoyed it".
"It's a massive privilege for me to be able to represent the group at that level. Thanks to the boss man (Farrell) for giving me the chance. Not many people get to do it."
Ireland were poor on Saturday, which left more questions than answers despite their rank. Furlong also added: "Yeah, stop start. We never really got going.
"I know there were a lot of penalties and we kicked and mauled a lot. Maybe that's something to do with it. We never launched a massive amount but it just felt a little bit stop start. We didn't get into our flow where we could play multi-phase really."
Ireland play Australia in their Autumn Nations Game at 8:00pm next Saturday.
