'Vulnerable' Ireland wary of Fiji threat

SPOTLIGHT: Ireland boss Andy Farrell admits his players are well aware they are viewed as “vulnerable” by weekend opponents Fiji.

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The Six Nations champions have made an unconvincing start to their November campaign, scraping a nervy 22-19 victory over Argentina following a dispiriting 13-23 defeat to New Zealand.

Fiji have lost each of the past five meetings between the nations but arrived in Dublin optimistic of claiming another scalp on the back of wins over England, Australia and Wales during the past 15 months.

Earlier this week, visiting scrumhalf Frank Lomani spoke candidly to the media about sensing an opportunity to topple Ireland, who have slipped off the top of the world rankings this month.

Farrell hopes his much-changed hosts can rise to the challenge.

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“You think the lads don’t read it [press coverage] but they do,” said Farrell, who has made seven alterations to his starting XV, including handing debuts to Leinster hooker Gus McCarthy and Ulster flank Cormac Izuchukwu.

“They might tell you that they don’t but they do, 100 per cent they do. It’s great. It’s what you want.

“You want to play against sides that are confident and who think that it’s an opportunity for themselves because we have to rise to that.”

Fiji, who upset England at Twickenham ahead of last year’s World Cup and then beat Australia in the pool stage of the tournament in France, are seeking a seventh win in their last eight outings.

Defeat to Scotland in their autumn opener is the only blot on that record, with Mick Byrne’s visitors hoping to build on back-to-back wins over Wales and Spain.

Asked if he feels the opposition may have saved their best performance until last, Farrell replied: “Yeah, I’d expect that.

“Listening to their scrumhalf they expect that as well which is great.

“They’ve proved over the last couple of years their consistency of performance because of their players playing in big games, not just internationally but all around the world now.”

Ireland have conceded 54 points from penalties during their last three games.

Farrell insists he is not encouraging his team to “play on the edge” and acknowledges the discipline issues must improve.

“Referees always get things wrong and so do we,” said the Englishman.

“Our way of going about these things is you take the referee out of the game by making sure that you do things properly anyway.

“We’re not the type of side – even though it wouldn’t look like it over the last couple of weeks – who wants to play on the edge, or over the edge. We want to be accurate with what we’re doing.

“Obviously there’s a couple of trends with offsides. That’s a little bit too much enthusiasm, lack of composure, and it’s not one person, it’s a mixture.

“It’s something obviously that we keep talking about and owning up to. We need to have a better performance in that regard at the weekend.”