DUBLIN: The Wallabies believe they can counter Ireland's "crafty and old school" lineout tactics with set-piece smarts to avoid back-to-backs for the first time in almost a decade.
And lock Rob Simmons is confident the forward pack can make amends for its lapses in concentration against France last week to muscle up in Dublin.
The Wallabies haven't lost two games in a row on a spring tour of Europe since 2005, and are desperate to get their end-of-year back on track against Ireland.
Ireland thumped South Africa 29-15 two weeks ago and have leapfrogged Australian on the international rankings into the No. 3 spot.
In doing so, they took away one of the Springboks' biggest attacking weapons – the rolling maul – by refusing to engage in a power battle after lineouts to shut down the move.
 
The Wallabies are bracing for a similar game-plan after they scored from a rolling maul against France last weekend.
"Our lineout didn't go how we wanted it to last week … we weren't manipulated by the defence, they were our mistakes and it's easy to fix," Simmons said.
"We're doing our research, we saw the weapon they used against South Africa and we're looking to stop it.
"Headed by Paul O'Connell, they're pretty crafty and old school. There are ways you can go about it, you don't have to give away penalties. We'll mix things up and we have to be smart about it.
"I've used that tactic myself [at the Queensland Reds] … It keeps you guessing and makes you uncertain. That's their way of trying to manipulate you in attack, communications is the key."
The Wallabies have lost just two of the past 15 Tests against Ireland.
New coach Michael Cheika has intricate knowledge of the bulk of the Irish squad having coached many of the players at Leinster.
The Wallabies beat Ireland 32-15 in Dublin last year, unfazed by the infamous "Dublin six" incident which led to six players being suspended.
But Cheika has taken over from Ewen McKenzie and Ireland will sense a chance to inflict more pain on the Wallabies after they lost to France last week.
"Michael Cheika has had a pretty major influence on a lot of the players because he had a number of them [at the NSW Waratahs]," Ireland coach Joe Schmidt told The Irish Independent.
"Especially the key playmakers. You know it was a little bit like that for me, I knew a lot of the players and for me it was a disappointing result against Australia [last year].
"I think his team at the Wallabies and the Waratahs are a lot different. I saw a fair bit of Cheiks at Stade Francais as well when I was with Leinster.
"One of the things Cheiks does really well is he gets them to work and he gets them to work collectively … he almost builds a real collective effort as part of his culture in a team and it is a real strength."
The Wallabies have only a handful of Tests remaining before the World Cup in England and Wales next year.
But halfback Will Genia is confident constant coaching changes won't affect the team's chances, despite churning through Robbie Deans and McKenzie since July last year.
"We've all bought into that's how he wants to play the game and that's how he wants to run the team," Genia said.
"When you've got complete buy-in from the players that makes the transition quite well. I think things are running quite smoothly."
