Doris confident Ireland's discipline will return

Ireland skipper Caelan Doris believes starting debutants Gus McCarthy and Cormac Izuchukwu will perform well against Fiji

Caelan Doris says Ireland expect to return to a disciplined unit in Saturday's game against Fiji after an autumn series which witnessed regular concessions of penalties and two yellow cards against Argentina last weekend.

New Zealand's fly-half Damian McKenzie punished Ireland's indiscipline by kicking six penalties as the All Blacks earned a deserved 23-13 win in Dublin two weeks ago.

McKenzie's successful kicks were from the 13 penalties Ireland conceded and the penalty-count against the Irish was exactly the same a week ago as they had to battle hard to hold on for a 22-19 victory even though the Pumas finished with only 14 men.

Ireland forwards Finlay Bealham and Joe McCarthy were both yellow carded in last week's game.

There have been noises from Fiji that they feel Ireland are vulnerable this weekend but Doris says "there is belief in our camp" that the difficulties of the last two games will be fixed.

"The discipline has obviously been talked about a lot," said the Ireland skipper on Friday.

"It’s an area that has been very good for us historically. We’re looking forward to getting back on track again tomorrow."

Asked about Ireland's two starting debutants, Leinster hooker Gus McCarthy and Ulster back row Cormac Izuchukwu, Doris described the duo as "calm and confident players and people".

"They’ve come in pretty seamlessly. You look at Gus in particular who is only 21 and he’s had a pretty steep rise from captaining Blackrock in the Leinster Schools Cup a couple of years ago, to 20s, Leinster, Emerging Ireland," added Doris.

"Izzy [Izuchukwu] as well has showed his class. He’s gone on a bit of longer journey through the [Ireland] Sevens and what not. I feel they are definitely both ready and I’m looking forward to see how they go tomorrow."