Ireland skipper Caelan Doris shoots down Fijian talk of 'vulnerability' ahead of Aviva Stadium clash
World Player of the Year nominee Caelan Doris insists no panic button is being pushed in relation to Ireland's discipline problems ahead of their third Autumn Series fixture
Caelan Doris feels that Fiji's talk of vulnerability in the Ireland ranks is down to the double-digit penalty concessions Andy Farrell's side have made so far in the Autumn Series at the Aviva Stadium.
However the Ireland skipper insists that there will be no repeat of the 13 penalties coughed up in both the loss to New Zealand and the victory over Argentina in the past fortnight.
Visiting scrum-half Frank Lomani's confession that Fiji see opportunity in Ireland's difficulties is something that Farrell has said he has aware of, and that has trickled down to the players too.
READ MORE:RWI Player of the Year Caelan Doris opens up on dealing with the pressure to succeed with Ireland
"I haven't seen too much of it, to be honest with you," he said. "I think they'll probably be confident based off a couple of their results and how they've gone against Wales and Spain last week.
"If it's off the discipline they're looking at, I'm not sure exactly, but there's a lot of belief within our camp still. We feel we have the right people showing us the way and there's excitement about what we can do.
"The discipline has obviously been talked about a lot and it's been an area that has been very good for us historically, so we're looking forward to getting back on track there tomorrow.
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"It’s something we’ve spoken about a lot over the last couple of weeks. There’s no panic buttons being pushed, but it’s just about not being desperate.
"I gave away two last week which were just sloppy offsides. There’s an onus on everyone to be a little bit more focused, a little bit sharper there, and take no chances."
There are Test debuts for Gus McCarthy and Cormac Izuchukwu - and a first Ireland start for No.10 Sam Prendergast, who made his bow off the bench against Argentina.
And there are seven changes to the starting line-up in total from last week. Farrell spoke on Thursday of the senior players - including Doris - needing to step up to guide the newcomers.
"Even the guys who aren't playing have been mentioning there's responsibility on them to train well, to prepare us as best as possible," said the 26-year-old.
"It's definitely a spread across the group, more being on the experienced players given the young guys have a lot on their plate. There's going to be extra nerves in their early caps anyway, so trying to take a bit of weight off them through our performances largely, through how we trained, through leading meetings a little bit more and through how we play tomorrow as well."
Asked what his message is to the young guns, Doris replied: "Enjoy it is the big one that we always speak about. The two lads in particular getting their debuts this week, they're pretty calm and confident players and people anyway.
"They've come in pretty seamlessly. You look at Gus in particular, who's only 21, and he's a had a pretty steep rise from captaining Blackrock a couple of years ago to 20s to Leinster to Emerging Ireland, so he's had a pretty seamless transition the whole way and he's settled in really well in the group, trained really well and he's got his well-deserved opportunity now.
"And Izzy as well has showed his class, he's gone on a bit of a longer journey through the sevens and whatnot and then he's showed his class in Ulster over the last season or so."
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