AUSTRALIA CAPTAIN HARRY Wilson is priming himself for a major back-row battle tomorrow evening as the Wallabies look to go one step further than their previous November international encounter with Ireland at the Aviva Stadium.

A little under 12 months ago, Australia had put themselves in a winning position before a 72nd minute converted try from Gus McCarthy ultimately propelled Ireland towards a 22-19 victory.

Wilson lined out alongside Fraser McReight and Rob Valetini at the rear of the Aussie scrum for that fixture and the exact same back-row combination will also take to the field on Lansdowne Road tomorrow.

While Caelan Doris scored a try from his customary No 8 position in last year’s clash between the two teams, he has switched to openside flanker for the return of the Wallabies to Dublin. The Irish back-row will be completed by Doris’ Leinster colleagues Ryan Baird and Jack Conan on Saturday, and given the latter started all three tests the British & Irish Lions played on their tour of Australia earlier this summer, Wilson knows what to expect from his opposite number.

“He [Conan] is a really good ball carrier. A strong ball carrier, which you definitely felt during that Lions series. He’s quite good in the lineout too. He’s got a good jump on him, so I think he’ll definitely help their lineout,” Australia’s No 8 said.

“When you have a player like Caelan Doris move to seven, they’re going to have a lot of good ball carriers in their back-row. That’s a real big match point for us where our back-row is going to have to step up and try and stop them there because they’ve obviously picked quite a big one. I think it’s always exciting when you get to go up against three quality back-rows.”

Despite being close to toppling Ireland in last year’s Aviva showdown – and also recording a third Test victory against the Lions at Sydney in early August – Australia come into tomorrow night’s game on the back of a difficult run of form.

After losing three games on the bounce in the latter half of The Rugby Championship, the Wallabies had to dig deep in advance of registering a 19-15 success away to Japan in the opening fixture of their spring tour on 25 October.

This was followed by a comprehensive 25-7 loss to England at Twickenham Stadium at the beginning of this month and a disappointing reversal to Italy in Udine last weekend.

Yet with former Leinster and Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt at their helm, it would be foolish to discount Australia’s challenge tomorrow evening. Although he acknowledges a difficult task lies ahead of them, Wilson believes claiming the scalp of the Irish could provide the Wallabies with an ideal morale boost.

“It would give us a lot of confidence. I feel as if we’re really excited for the game, to go out here and try and perform. We’ve had a tough couple of weeks and we know how good of a team Ireland is. If we go out here and perform and get a result, it would really put us in a better sort of way going into our last game against France.

“We need to be a very disciplined team, we need to go out there and put ourselves in the right position on the field. Then when we get in the A Zone, we’ve got to be accurate. We know how accurate Ireland is.

“We know they like playing the ball for long phases, so we have to be really good defensively. Obviously set piece-wise, we have to step up there too. It’s a really exciting battle we have ahead of ourselves.”

While on media duties earlier this week, Len Ikitau – who will feature at inside centre tomorrow – referenced Wilson as one of the players who has been reinvigorated by the presence of Schmidt in the Wallabies hotseat since March of last year. When asked earlier today, the Queensland Reds star explained what the New Zealander has done for his own game.

“I feel as if Joe’s just made me improve as a footballer. He’s always trying to help you improve and he gives you a lot of confidence to go out there and express yourself. Play the best style of footy you can. When you have belief from a coach, someone who really believes in you, it really gives you a lot of confidence to go out on the field and perform,” Wilson added.