Just five of the seven changes made for last week versus Fiji from the November 15 win over Argentina were reversed for this Saturday’s series-ending fixture with Joe Schmidt’s Wallabies.
Ulster wing Stockdale is poised to win just his fifth cap in four years after Farrell made seven personnel changes to the starting XV which scraped a 22-19 Autumn Nations Series win over Argentina.
Beaten by New Zealand in their opening November match, the Irish got their Autumn Nations Series back on track with a 22-19 success versus the Pumas and they have now altered five backs and two forwards for the Aviva Stadium arrival of the Pacific Islanders.
Ireland player ratings: Ireland were once again afflicted by unforced errors in a hard-fought 22-19 win at HQ but there were enough reserves of resolve to save the day from an Argentinian side that came within a whisker of a nicking this one.
The Irish were off the pace in their Autumn Nations Series opener, the 10-point defeat seeing them relinquish the World Rugby No1 ranking, but their reaction has been to keep faith with 14 of those 15 starters.
Andy Farrell saw his men put in one of their worst performances under his tenure and that has made a win over Los Pumas pivotal
The consensus was that Ireland would giddily deliver a performance reflective of their World Rugby number one ranking and stick it to Scott Robertson’s 'unconvincing' All Blacks.
Head coach Andy Farrell is hopeful prop Tadhg Furlong will make a swift recovery from the hamstring strain which has ruled him out of Ireland’s Autumn Nations Series opener against New Zealand.