Dan Sheehan cut a relaxed figure on the eve of captaining Ireland for the third time in their Nations Championship opener against Australia in Sydney’s Allianz Stadium on Saturday (kick-off 11.10am), as was the case, seemingly, when Andy Farrell initially rang him with the news. Having led Ireland in their Six Nations win over Wales in Cardiff last year and in last November’s defeat against New Zealand in Chicago, Farrell turned to Sheehan again after Caelan Doris was ruled out of Ireland’s end-of-season with the foot injury he suffered in Leinster’s URC final win over the Bulls. “It hasn’t been too daunting,” said Sheehan after what was more of a captain’s walkthrough than a captain’s run in the match venue on Friday afternoon local time, before revealing: “I remember getting the call on day two of the celebrations of the URC and it didn’t faze me at all. I was more disappointed for Caelan at the time.“We have a great group of leaders in the squad already, so it’s just a good chance for me to develop my own personal skills but also get a grip of the squad in a full sort of month on tour, which has been nice.“I think the prep has been good. I’ve enjoyed the build-up to it. I think everyone’s raring to go. A nice Saturday evening kick-off, hopefully a lot of Irish in town, so a lot to be excited for.”Talking further about that phone call from Farrell, Sheehan said: “I knew it wasn’t great, Caelan’s injury, so I kind of had it in the back of my head slightly that I needed to be ready to go.“But it was just a quick call, like 30 seconds: ‘Will you do it?’ And I was like, ‘yeah, sure, I’ll see you in Sydney’ because he was on the flight ahead.“It’s been perfectly fine and it’s probably trying to get away from thinking about it all the time. How’s the group feeling? Do you need to address anything? All this sort of stuff. But this group is very well disciplined and take it extremely seriously every time they get a chance to put on this jersey. So it kind of does itself and no trouble so far.”Dan Sheehan led Ireland on captain's run. Photograph: Ben Brady/INPHO Sydney continued to be bathed in sunshine under clear blue skies, albeit on a breezy day, and the temperature had dropped to 17-18 degrees and is set to drop further to around 12 degrees come kick-off. It’s clear, too, that Sheehan and his team are mindful of the slow starts to the last two campaigns against New Zealand in Chicago and France in Paris.“We’re a very diligent group that preps very well. Trying to think back to the Six Nations, we thought we had a great week’s prep and we obviously didn’t give the best version of ourselves on the day in that first game in France.“We need just to have that same feeling and turn over all stones, but at the same time it’s sort of stripping the detail back now in the last week and making sure we’re just focused on showing up properly, and the basics of the game, physicality and making sure you’re willing to work hard.“That’s sort of been my focus on the last couple of weeks, just making sure that the lads are switched on and not sort of overawed by detail.”Against that, Ireland’s strong finish to the Six Nations means they come into this Nations Championship on the back of four successive wins, with Sheehan optimistic they can carry that form into this game.“It’s probably been a theme in a few campaigns now where we’ve had a slow start and built nicely through it. So, my big focus has been on making sure we continue that form from the end of the Six Nations. I think we’ve got the tone of the week right. Obviously we have to wait and see tomorrow, but I’m fizzing to go and my head feels pretty clear and free, which is the way you want to be as a player. So, yeah, hopefully, all good.”[ Nations Championship 2026: TV details, kick-off times as Ireland play Australia in opening matchOpens in new window ]The Irish team are also acutely aware that one of the reasons behind the stadium’s 42,600 capacity quickly being sold-out is due to the Irish diaspora and hence their desire to produce a performance for them.“I think most of the squad have friends, family out here. It’s been nice sort of catching up with them over the last few days, and you know they’re all excited. Hard to find tickets. Everyone’s asking you and you can’t get them. It really feels like a proper World Cup away day sort of feel to it, and hopefully it is with the late kick-off.“Hopefully everyone’s having a great day and shows up in green and sometimes the travelling support can be even better than at home.“We’ve been talking about it all week, making sure we put on a show for a lot of Irish fans who’ve got up in the middle of the night to watch us a lot of times and it’s brilliant to be sort of down here now and be able to put on a show for them, hopefully.”