Junior Wallabies coach Nathan Grey is welcoming the challenge of playing heavyweights Ireland as they look to build off their opening-round win at the U20 World Championships.
Thursday's clash will be the first since the 2019 event the Australians will face a Northern Hemisphere opponent, with none better than the Irish.
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Richie Murphy's side have won back-to-back U20 Six Nations, sweeping through the tournament undefeated.
They are yet to win the U20s World Championships, finishing second in 2006, however loom as one of the favourites despite their 34-all draw to England.
"We certainly have a healthy respect for Ireland. They've been dominant in that tournament for a couple of years now so we're very aware of the threats they pose," Grey told reporters.
"We're also very conscious of how we want to play and comfortable with how we want to play and back ourselves in terms of applying pressure to them.
"We're really looking forward to the contest."
Captain Teddy Wilson is one of the more experienced players in the squad, however, facing the Irish will be a new challenge for the scrum-half, already bracing for a set-piece-heavy game.
"I went on one school tour to England when I was young and it was just the basics like their kicking skills are really good," he recalled when asked about his experience facing Northern Hemisphere sides.
"Obviously haven't played against them a lot but they base their game off that set-piece dominance...we need to set patient with our kick battles and fronting up in the set-piece. The boys have been doing really well at scrum and lineout time so if we can continue to bring that on Thursday, we'll do well."
The Junior Wallabies will be without prop Marley Pearce for the rest of the group stages of the U20 Championships.
It comes after the Western Force prop was suspended for two games for a high shot during their win over Fiji.
Pearce was initially issued a yellow card in the 53rd minute, which was subsequently upgraded to a red by the TMO.
World Rugby's independent Disciplinary Committee found it to be a mid-range sanction, with Pearce's clean record and his completion of the World Rugby Coaching Intervention Programme reducing it from six to two weeks.
"The Committee, having considered the player’s submissions and reviewed all available evidence, found that the red card threshold had been met," they said in a statement.
"The Committee noted that the offence carries a mandatory mid-range sanction (six matches) and having considered the mitigating factors reduced the sanction by the maximum mitigation of 50 per cent."
Junior Wallabies coach Nathan Grey spoke before the decision was handed down but had already prepared for the worse case scenario, with Waratah Jack Barrett named to start in Thursday's match against Six Nations and Grand Slam champions Ireland.
