Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll believes his side have their best-ever chance of ending their 23-year victory drought against Australia at Lansdowne Road today.

The last time the Irish beat the current world champions was in June 1979, 9-3 in Sydney, and they have since lost 10 in a row against the Wallabies.

O'Driscoll, who was part of the British Lions team that took one game off Australia in the three-match series last year, has been trying to convince his team-mates they are not unbeatable.

The fact the Aussies are wracked with injuries only increases the home team's
fortunes. "It's as good a chance as we have ever had, Saturday will be the
storyteller," he said.

"I'm the only one in the side to have beaten them and it's a case of trying
to get that across to them. I said to them during the week that they're not infallible, they are just men.

"There has been a lot said about their defence but it can be broken down. We
have been working hard at trying to exploit their potential weaknesses.
There's not very many of them, but we're going to give it a good crack."

The Wallabies' injury woes have forced coach Eddie Jones to make six changes
to the side that beat Argentina last week. Nick Stiles replaces Bill Young at loosehead prop, Adam Freier makes his starting debut for Jeremy Paul and forwards Owen Finegan and David Giffin
replace Dan Vickerman and Justin Harrison.

Scott Staniforth and Wendell Sailor are the new wingers, with Matt Burke
filling in at full-back for Mat Rogers and Stirling Mortlock moved to outside
centre.

"They've been experimenting with their front five and back three but by and
large they have the core of the side that knows its way around a Test game,"
said Irish coach Eddie O'Sullivan.

"They were anxious to get a game under their belts on their way and while it
mightn't have been the ideal game for them (against Argentina), they would have got a lot out of last week in terms of getting the cobwebs out and getting some physicality back which you don't get in training."

O'Sullivan conceded Australia would be favourites but would not discount his
team's chances. They're bound to be favourites and they're expected to win tomorrow, which puts an added pressure on them," he said.

"Whenever there's a big international in Dublin we always feel we have a
chance against the big guns. We've had opportunities in the last two years to do something special and we
have let them slip.

"These teams don't get beaten very often by the lesser nations, that's what makes them the team that everyone wants to beat."