Suaalii boost for Australia ahead of Ireland clash

Joseph Suaalii has shrugged off a knock to be available for Australia's Test against Ireland on Saturday, coach Joe Schmidt confirmed.

Australia are looking to bounce back from Sunday's 27-13 defeat to Scotland in the concluding autumn Test at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.

Suaalii was withdrawn in the early stages of the contest against Scotland in Edinburgh amid fears that he had suffered a broken wrist.

"Joe's fine, he got one of those stingers where he had a bit of a dead arm," Schmidt said, providing an update on the 21-year-old Australia centre.

"We felt it was better to get it properly assessed, and we couldn't hold the game up to do that, so we took him out of the game against Scotland."

Against England earlier this month, rugby league convert Suaalii became only the third player after Matt Giteau and Tatafu Polota-Nau to debut for the Wallabies before playing in Super Rugby.

Wallabies to face Ireland.#Wallabies pic.twitter.com/9GRberlhao

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Schmidt, who coached Ireland from 2013 to 2019, has made five changes to his side from the defeat to the Scots.

James Slipper and Taniela Tupou have been recalled to the squad, while Jeremy Williams comes back from illness alongside Nick Frost.

Fraser McReight is also drafted into the back row while fly-half Tane Edmed is set for a first cap after finding a place among the replacements.

Meanwhile, Ireland have retained Sam Prendergast at fly-half for the autumn finale ahead of Jack Crowley.

Head coach Andy Farrell has also made five changes to an Ireland side that go into the Test on the back of a 52-17 win against Fiji.

Jamison Gibson-Park, James Lowe, Hugo Keenan, Ronan Kelleher and James Ryan all return to Farrell's side as they look to finish on a high.