Flannery the sole concern for Ireland

Jerry Flannery's fitness is the sole injury concern for Ireland head coach Declan Kidney ahead of the announcement of the Ireland team to play Australia later today, although he faces a selection dilemma at inside centre.

Read Conor O'Shea's Expert Analysis: Ireland v Australia

Flannery has been troubled by a calf injury and although he has trained with the Ireland squad all week, his participation will not be confirmed until this afternoon.

The Ireland 'A' squad has one slot left open ahead of today's team announcement and John Fogarty and Sean Cronin are both retained in the senior squad in case it is decided that Flannery cannot play.

The other main area of debate surrounds inside centre, where Gordon D'Arcy and Paddy Wallace are both in contention to play alongside captain Brian O'Driscoll. Although Kidney chose to use D'Arcy for the climactic games in the Grand Slam earlier this year, it is thought he may opt for the in-form Wallace's passing ability on this occasion.

There are several other selection debates across the team, with scrum-half, out-half, wing, second-row and back-row also the subject of conjecture.

With Marcus Horan ruled out due until January, John Hayes and Cian Healy are expected to take the starting propping spots.

Selection debates across the team

Leo Cullen is pressing for inclusion alongside Munster captain Paul O'Connell in the second row but Donncha O'Callaghan is expected to hold onto the number four jersey alongside his provincial team-mater. Recent addition Bob Casey, along with the seven other late call-ups to the Senior squad, is not expected to feature in the 22 for this game.

In the back-row, one of Denis Leamy, David Leamy, Jamie Heaslip and Stephen Ferris will have to be culled to make a starting trio.

Munster pair Ronan O'Gara and Tomás O'Leary are expected to get the nod at scrum-half and out-half although their Leinster counter-parts - Jonathan Sexton and Eoin Reddan - are expected to get significant gametime during the November Series.

In the back three, Grand Slam starters Luke Fitzgerald, Rob Kearney and Tommy Bowe are the front-runners with Keith Earls is expected to take a spot on the bench.

Ireland have beaten Australia just twice in their last seven meetings, dating back to 2002, and only eight times out of 27 in total.

Australia expect a tough outing against Ireland

The Wallabies arrive in Dublin buoyed by their 18-9 victory over England at Twickenham last Saturday but coach Robbie Deans is mindful of Ireland's achievements this year.

He said: 'I don't know if the challenge of facing Ireland will be that different to England. The first 20 minutes will be full on as they'll come out very passionate in front of a capacity crowd.

'We'll have to weather that and get going ourselves. You don't get to be Grand Slam champions lightly. They'll have a lot of belief because of what they did in the Six Nations. If you combine that with playing at Croke Park, they'll take some containing.'

The Ireland team to face Australia will be available here on RTÉ.ie/sport as soon as it is announced.