Origin fever takes over as Ireland go under the radar

The Ireland squad have been living under the radar this week.

With Saturday's second Nations Championship meeting with Japan taking place a couple of hours up the road in the relatively small city of Newcastle, Andy Farrell and his squad have stayed in Sydney for a few extra days this week before getting on the road tomorrow morning.

It makes for a welcome change. Usually, on trips like these, Sunday is moving day; pack up the bags and get on the road. Another airport, another city, another hotel. Wash, rinse, repeat.

We were in Sydney this time last year for the final week of the British and Irish Lions series, although we were limited in how much we could see that week. It wasn’t down to the workload necessarily, but rather the weather, which bucketed down without any let up. Remember the lightning delay in last year’s third Test? That was the full week experience.

This time, the weather has been mixed – it's winter in Australia after all – but having a few extra days to explore Sydney has allowed us check out a few things we didn’t get to experience 12 months ago.

Visits to Bondi and Bronte beaches did their best to shake off some of the jetlag, although this reporter wasn’t brave enough to head in for a dip in the water, considering the prominence of shark warnings. Only a couple of weeks ago, a woman was seriously injured by a suspected great white shark attack at nearby Coogee. No thanks.

Few cities can match Sydney for a cosmopolitan vibe. There’s a huge Asian influence to the city, and being based in the heart of Chinatown you can easily lose yourself walking around the sprawling Hay St Market, and salivate at the smells from the countless stalls and food vendors. If you walk five minutes north, it’s the skyscrapers and glass of the central business district.

Back to the rugby, one code in particular is dominating this town.

The Wallabies’ popularity may be growing once again, as evidenced by a record 41,871 supporters at the new Allianz Stadium, but Sydney’s roots are in rugby league.

The NRL is thriving, and of the 17 teams in the league, nine of them are based in and around Sydney.

As such, all eyes this week were directed towards Brisbane, where the deciding game in this year’s State of Origin is being played tonight.

For those not familiar, Origin has become the biggest event in the Australian sporting calendar. New South Wales versus Queensland, the annual best-of-three series pits the NRL’s best against each other, with players representing the state where they played their first senior game.

It’s rough and abrasive and sells out wherever it goes. Just under 80,000 people watched NSW claim the opener in Sydney last month, while a crowd of 91,000 packed into the Melbourne Cricket Ground for Queensland second Test win a few weeks ago, which tied the series up.

It’s as big as it gets in Australian sport, and the promotion is wonderfully silly at times. Watching an NRL game on Channel 9 while we worked in our hotel on Sunday, the promos being rolled out were packed full of flowery, hyperbolic monologues about boys becoming men and men becoming legends, that would make even the most hardened Munster Hurling Championship or Six Nations devotees blush.

The obvious problem rugby union has is the fight for eyeballs.

League is king in Sydney, but there are also two AFL teams to battle for territory: the Greater Western Sydney Giants and the Sydney Swans.

The Swans are flying it in 2026, so after finishing up our captain’s run work at Allianz Stadium last Friday afternoon, we returned later that evening to the iconic Sydney Cricket Ground next door, to watch them trounce the Western Bulldogs 90-55.

The Wallabies remain a draw, but the domestic game is struggling in Australia.

The four Australian Super Rugby franchises all finished together, right in mid-table mediocrity, with the Reds, Brumbies, Force and Waratahs landing fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth respectively, with the Sydney-based Tahs’ head coach Dan McKellar resigning in recent weeks.

Hopefully things change before Ireland return again next year, because the wider rugby world needs Australia.

Andy Farrell’s side will be back in Sydney – for some players for the third year in a row – for their World Cup opener against Portugal at Allianz Stadium.

For now, it’s off to Newcastle, and the slow and winding train up the New South Wales coast.

Click here to read article