O'Sullivan 'a bit worried' about hurt Australia

Italy beat Australia for the first time in their history on Saturday

Former Ireland head coach Eddie O'Sullivan has said he fears a backlash from Australia in Saturday's final Autumn Nations Series game in Dublin.

Ireland are unbeaten in November with victories over South Africa and Fiji.

"We are number one in the world, so if they put us away it would take a lot of pressure off them," said O'Sullivan.

Australia finished third in the Rugby Championship behind New Zealand and Australia and have found life difficult against Southern Hemisphere nations in 2022.

Dave Rennie's side lost their summer series with England 2-1 and fell to defeats to France and Italy in November - both by a solitary point.

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The Wallabies' victory over Scotland at Murrayfield was also by one point, and O'Sullivan added he has been "a bit worried" about Ireland's third and final Test.

"We've seen Australia, in the last few years, there have been highs and lows for them," added O'Sullivan, who was Ireland head coach from 2001 until 2008.

"They have had some fantastic performances and some poor performances. They have really been on a bungee-cord in terms of where they are.

"The things that worries me this weekend is they are coming into the last weekend of their season and they have come off a bad result in Italy.

"They are probably heading home to a fair bit of criticism in the rugby community in Australia, but if they can put Ireland away at the weekend - and let's not forget that Australia are capable of those performances - they have put a target on our backs.

"Having said that, I still think we should beat Australia on form but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a wee bit concerned heading into this weekend and that Australia weren't going to pull out one big one heading into their last game of the year."