Rugby:Paul O'Connell has demanded Ireland summon the ferocity needed to defy the odds and stun Australia in Saturday's critical World Cup showdown at Eden Park. The stakes are high for Pool C's most eagerly-awaited encounter between the tournament's youngest squad — the Wallabies — and its oldest, with the winner in the box seat for a quarter-final berth.
O’Connell accepts that any expectations the World Cup’s second favourites and Tri-Nations champions Australia will be humbled in Auckland this will be understandably low. But the former Lions captain is convinced Ireland are capable of taming the Wallabies if they approach the match with the right mentality.
“There’s no denying Australia are the form side compared to us. For us to win the game we will need a massive performance. Any motivation we can get we’ll use. There’s no doubt Irish teams are better when the emotion and passion is high. Hopefully that will be there in abundance against Australia. On form they’re a long way ahead of us at the moment.
“We’ve failed to produce our best in the last five games and there’s no doubt we’re the underdogs. We’re used to that and we can’t have any qualms about it. We’ve failed to produce the goods for five games in a row now, but hopefully it happens on Saturday.
“I look at the quality of the players and experience we have and I think absolutely there’s a big performance in us. We’ve been playing way under our potential.”
Irish hopes are pinned on their ability to reproduce the quality of performance that denied England the Grand Slam in March. It was a brutal performance that was close to perfection, but O’Connell concedes it has proved a one-off in a year plagued by inconsistency.
“Similarly to now when we haven’t performed to our ability for the last five games; week after week we failed to reach our potential in the Six Nations. We played for 20 minutes here and there, 30 minutes here and there. We showed only flashes of what we can do.
“We’re failing to produce it for 80 minutes but against England we managed that. When we can do that, which is what good teams do, we are an excellent side that can compete with anyone. That’s what we must do against Australia; be an 80-minute team.”
