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Shane Byrne: We've seen the best of Aussies, now Ireland can finish the job

Ireland celebrate their win against Australia
Ireland celebrate their win against Australia

It's been 39 years since Ireland last won a Test series Down Under, but Shane Byrne believe Joe Schmidt's men will end the wait in Sydney this Saturday. 

An opening defeat in Brisbane was cancelled out by a terrific performance and victory seven days later to ensure the three-match tour goes to the wire.

In 1979 the Irish won both of their encounters with the Wallabies but they've not emulated that feat since.

Now, the Grand Slam champions have the chance to put that right and former international hooker Byrne is confident they'll do just that.

"We saw the best of Australia in that first Test and I don't think they can improve much more on that," he told RTÉ 2fm's Game On.

RINGROSE RULED OUT OF FINAL TEST

"Ireland reacted superbly well in the second Test.

"The question now is can Ireland mentally keep going. Have they enough left in the tank to go and get this Test series?

"As I said, I think we saw the very best of Australia in that first Test and I don't think they can get any better. If Ireland can at least match that, to me they'll win the game.

"We're number two in the world and very deservedly second in the world so we should play like that. Teams that are in that position should win Test series in Australia."

The Aussies were excellent in the first clash, earning a fully merited 18-9 success, but Ireland hit back hard last weekend in Melbourne as they found form in a 26-21 cracker.

Byrne said a victory on Saturday would not only be the perfect end to a brilliant year, but also act as a launchpad towards the World Cup in Japan.

"If you look at England back in 2003 (when they won the World Cup), it was in the tours in '02 when they started going down to the southern hemisphere, started to win Test series and win regularly against southern hemisphere sides which is so, so important.

"This series win is important to develop all the team and all that, but ultimately you want to cap a season where there's been European Cups, added to the Six Nations, you want to top it off with a series win. 

"I'll think we'll see it through.

"This is a real tell. Most of this squad are so used to winning but now they are going to be challenged. The legs will be tired. Mentally it took a huge load out of them last week to play that game and play it as well as they did.

"To do it again, against an Australia side that is going to be hurting, they're going to have to neutralise them just as much as they did which takes a massive effort."

Follow Australia v Ireland on our live blog on RTÉ Sport Online and the RTÉ News Now app and listen to live commentary on 2fm from 10.45am (11am kick-off).

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