Tadhg Beirne reckons Australia put a ring around November 19 in the calendar and made it their aim to 'go after Ireland' in the final Autumn series clash.
Beirne is in line to make his third start of this series and, as much as he says Ireland want to end it on a high with the Six Nations only around the corner, he knows that the Wallabies are gunning for a big scalp - which Ireland certainly are now as the world's top ranked side.
The Munster star said: “I can imagine that when they looked at this fixture list they probably looked at us and were like, ‘we’re going to go after Ireland’.
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“We’re expecting them to come after us. There’s a target on our back at the moment and that’s brilliant, the way we want it to be.
"So, no different this week to any other week for us - but for them, I can imagine, this is a game they’ve been targeting. I don’t think last week's loss to Italy is going to change too much in terms of their approach.”
Beirne is a marked man these days himself, due to his poaching ability at the breakdown.
But the 30-year-old thought he might have to be a masked for the Fiji game after suffering a broken nose for the first time in a match - in the win over South Africa the previous week.
"I did actually ask if there was any point and they said no," said the hybrid forward from Kildare.
"I actually don't know who did it, to be honest.
"I went out on a poach and when I came up it was on the other side of my face. There wasn't much I could do there.
"They have brilliant medical staff in the Aviva so straight after the game they had pushed it back into place, which certainly helped.
"Throughout the week I was just doing non-contact in case I did break it again. It was one of those things where it might break, it might not, but hope for the best. Thankfully it didn't break in the end.
"I think I've broken my nose two or three times - I fell off my bike once when I was younger and broke it then. I think I broke it another time in training."
Beirne has come a long way in just over four years as he recalls how nervous he was to make his Ireland debut against the Wallabies on the 2018 summer tour.
"It was incredibly special," he said.
"It was a completely different environment to what we have in here now so when I went in, it was a bit of a blur that whole tour because it was my first campaign and I was incredibly nervous trying to fit in as best as I could.
"There was so much information being thrown at you and obviously then the whole occasion.
"I'm probably a little bit more experienced in terms of that side of things, so certainly I'm enjoying putting on the jersey a lot more than I was able to my first time in terms of the nerves and stuff.
"But yeah, it was an incredible experience. First time the whole family were probably together in a long, long time so they were all there for that, which was extra special for me, for sure."
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