Can we really beat Australia? Geordan Murphy thinks so

Despite Ireland’s horror show against the US on Sunday, Geordan Murphy is confident we have what it takes to beat the Wallabies this weekend.

After an insipid display against Eddie O’Sullivan’s Eagles, Murphy could be accused of delusion, or being blindly optimistic, but the Irish full-back believes that Ireland can take it up a gear or two against the current Tri-Nations champions, who looked mightily impressive when taking apart Italy in the second half of their pool opener on Sunday.

"It feels like there's a big performance in the team," said Murphy, who looks set to overcome a hamstring injury to be available for Saturday.

"We have some fantastically talented players, some guys who can play really good rugby. We can take it on another gear or two against Australia.

"We'll be up against it as we're playing one of the best sides in the world, but there's the belief that we can win this. The guys are all confident."

What will most worry the Irish supporters ahead of the clash in Auckland is the threat posed by the Wallaby backline, who will be extremely dangerous even in the absence of injury victim Digby Ioane.

Murphy watched them closely during the Tri-Nations and was impressed with what he saw, so impressed in fact, that he was moved to describe them as “the most potent attacking backline in the world”.

"The Australian backline are awesome across the board. Australian rugby for many years has produced fantastic backs," Murphy added.

"They're tremendously talented and are great at breaking teams down. They're not a bad bunch to boot either, so they're thoroughly unlikeable!

"They're probably the most potent attacking backline in the world. They have pace, power and are intelligent players to boot."

Ireland backs coach and Australia native Alan Gaffney echoed Murphy’s sentiments about the Wallaby backs, paying particular emphasis to the pedigree of half-back pairing Quade Cooper and Will Genia.

"Quade is a player who's developed very well over the past 18 months," said Gaffney.

"He has a lot more maturity in the way he plays the game. He's got exceptional skill levels and has fantastic vision. He's world class and is very difficult to handle.

"Will Genia is in absolutely outstanding form. He is some player, as he's shown right through the Tri Nations and over the last two years. But Australia have so much potency that we cannot afford to concentrate on one or two players. We've got trouble across the board.

"Australia are very exciting, there's no doubt about that. We know the enormity of the task, but we believe we're up to it if we play our very, very best.

"In recent times we haven't been there and have been disappointing in what we've done, but we can challenge them. We know the performance is within us."