ANDY FARRELL reckons former Ireland chief Jose Schmidt has Australia where he expected them to be at this stage of his tenure.

Schmidt began his role as Wallabies head coach in March on a two- year deal after taking over from their previous boss Eddie Jones.

The former Leinster and Ireland boss led Australia to three wins on the spin to start with — defeating Wales twice and Georgia once.

But his side finished bottom of the Rugby Championship after recording just one win in six games.

They started the November international window with a 42-37 victory against England in Twickenham.

An emphatic 52-20 success followed at the expense of Wales before Scotland got the better of them 27-13 at Murrayfield yesterday.

But Australia are capable of posing a threat to Farrell and Co ahead of Saturday’s showdown at the Aviva.

Schmidt was Ireland chief for six years before handing the role over to Farrell in 2019.

And Farrell — who saw his side thump Fiji 52-17 on Saturday — said: “I think Australia are progressing exactly how we thought they would do.

“Joe has taken his time by playing a good few players first and foremost.

“It took a little bit of pain but he has done the right thing for the squad.

“He has got a good opinion and they’re reaping the rewards for that at this moment in time.

“They’ve always got the athletes and he’s trying to find out about them more personally, I would have thought, over the last six months.

“He’s got that now and he has got them playing really good rugby.”

While Farrell and some of his assistants worked with Schmidt in the IRFU before, Kiwi Andrew Goodman has also worked under the former Ireland chief.

Goodman was drafted in as a utility back during Schmidt’s final year at the helm of Leinster during the 2012-13 campaign.

He made only 17 appearances for the Blues that season but Goodman later returned to the eastern province as an assistant coach in 2022.

And he has subsequently found himself back in the international arena as attacking coach, taking over from Mike Catt.

And Farrell said: “Goodie is doing a fantastic job. He’s a workaholic and he’s across a lot of things.”

Goodman’s imprint could be seen in Ireland’s routine win over Fiji, with Gus McCarthy and Caelan Doris both crossing the whitewash.

Farrell added: “We’re starting to see the fruits of that work. His work he did with Gus McCarthy.

“A young fella who was coming charging around the corner during the week and just needs to calm down a little bit. The composure that he had at the line was the reason why the try from Doris was scored.”

Ireland ran eight tries past Fiji and strolled to a 35-point victory. But Farrell was pleased that his side rose to the physical challenge posed by the Pacific Islanders.

He added: “Everyone thinks it’s this fancy and offloading rugby but they are unbelievably tough and aggressive.

“One of the messages at half time was about our first up tackles and one-on-one tackles because they are strong. They challenge you.

“There’s no better way of putting that to use than at the breakdown. It was ferocious at the breakdown.

“It must have been really hard to referee. I was glad that we kept our composure.”