Australia coach Eddie Jones has targeted Ireland's new captain Brian O'Driscoll as the man who stands between the Wallabies and victory at Lansdowne Road on Saturday.

Jones acknowledged Ireland were more than just a one-man team but chose to heap praise on the man who took Australia by storm when the Lions toured Down Under in 2001.

Jones said: "He is an immense talent, a guy who can run straight and at angles, a guy who can shift off both feet. He has developed a strong shot kicking game and he's not afraid to tackle either."

When asked if he thought the Irishman would find a place in his side, Jones added: "I would say he would get into virtually any team in the world, not much question about that."

As for the Irish side in general, Jones has plenty of respect for counterpart Eddie O'Sullivan's outfit.

"Experience tells us that Ireland are a difficult side to beat. They might be without Keith Wood but they have a lot of quality in the squad," he said.

"Ireland have progressed fairly rapidly in the last couple of years and any side that can go to New Zealand and do what they did in the first Test during the summer must be treated seriously.

"That was a game they not only could have won but should have won. New Zealand rarely play badly at home so you would have to give credit to Ireland for the way they played.

"They missed a few kicks at goal and only lost by a narrow margin. That, for me, makes them very dangerous opposition."

Dangerous opposition they may be, but after last weekend's gruelling Test against Argentina in front of an intimidating Buenos Aires crowd, Jones is expecting an improved atmosphere on and off the pitch.

"I don't reckon the Irish will be spitting on our players when they take the field," he said.

"And it was a dreadful game as well. You can't be happy with a match when the ball is actually only in play for 21 of the 80 minutes.

"The good thing from our point of view was that the players got a match - their first bit of footy for almost nine weeks. It was better because we came away with a win in difficult circumstances."

Jones is expecting an improvement from his squad, despite being deprived of exciting backs Ben Tune, Mat Rogers and hooker Jeremy Paul, who were all injured in Buenos Aires.

"This tour is all about progressing as a team and a squad. I would like to think we could play a better brand of rugby this week although Ireland, I'm sure, may have something to say about that.

"The way Ireland have expanded their game suggests it will be an opportunity to produce a better game than last week. If that happens, the players on both sides and the fans will be satisfied."

Jones also defended his claim that he would not field his strongest available team until the Wallabies arrived at Twickenham to take on England later this month.

"It is no disrespect to either Argentina or Ireland to say that England are probably the strongest team in the northern hemisphere. Let me say this - we are here to develop as a squad and to win matches. We will be putting out a very strong side against Ireland but, in a couple of cases, we have to have the courage to experiment.

"We have picked a very stable squad but we also have to look to the future. The future for us is the World Cup next year and that means we have to try out new players.

"I'm sure Ireland will be using their three autumn matches to do exactly the same."