Even now it is hard to reconcile the image of Stephen Larkham, priceless playmaker at the heart of the Wallabies, with the stick insect Ireland first encountered back in 1996.

A lanky Larkham was then struggling to make headway on his maiden voyage with the Australians. His problems were typified in a game against Connacht when, on a rain-lashed day, he looked out of his depth. Only a year earlier he had been plucked from the obscurity of reserve grade football in Canberra to get a spot with ACT. The next thing he was touring with the Wallabies.

He started at fly-half that day in Galway, and so wretched was his handling that they moved him to full-back for the second half. He did not look too spectacular there either. How wrong first impressions can be.

The 28-year-old Larkham will win his 54th cap today when Australia play Ireland in Dublin but he has become so important to his country's chances of a third World Cup success that they have real fears for the safety of their prized No10. In the early days, after moving from scrum-half for his club to outside-centre to full-back and then into the prime target zone at Test level, so did he.

"At first it was just pressure. What I noticed was the lack of time and space and having big guys bearing down on you. Early on I didn't get that much pressure - not as much as I'm getting today. But getting that ball and trying to distribute was very difficult. I got knocked around and hit late. I still get it occasionally but nowhere near as bad. I think the referees are a little bit more aware of what goes on now. I'm comfortable with it; things happened pretty quickly for me."

He is the fulcrum of a side which has been forced by injuries into changes, Scott Staniforth and Wendell Sailor filling in on the wings and a new hooker in Adam Freier.

Larkham was given a generous bedding-in period by Rod Macqueen, and if he looks back it is only to see the distance he has travelled. Bigger, stronger and with a good range to his game, he has learned how to think on the hoof. Last week's brutal Test against Argentina in Buenos Aires was another case in point. The Australians looked as though they could not get out of there fast enough.

"Yeah, it was a bit like that," he says. "We went into the match knowing that they were going to really blitz in defence so we had the idea of throwing the ball around them, basically because they were coming up so quickly. And that's what happened in the game: they were racing up. We also had the idea that their wingers weren't great under the high ball and weren't too big, so we were going to put some kicks up. But when we got out there it was so humid that the ball became so slippery it wasn't funny.

"There were so many dropped balls because when you went into contact it would slip out. We found that throwing those long passes wasn't on, so we resorted to a lot more kicking. It was quite con servative and probably boring to watch but it turned out to be quite effective. But we were definitely happy just to get away with the win and get out of there. The boys were sick of Argentina after a week."

In those circumstances their wet and windswept retreat in Dublin seemed like a safe haven. They are using the same base as in the 1999 World Cup. Back then everything worked like clockwork, not least the pool game against Ireland, whom they brushed aside with disdain.

"It was a scrappy game from what I remember. We didn't feel throughout that whole World Cup that we played our best football. We did enough just to win the games and it was the same against the Irish. It's always difficult, though, at Lansdowne Road, in the wet and with that crowd the Irish team generally seem to pump up. The boys are expecting a very physical confrontation.

"I've seen highlights of their games with New Zealand [in June], and in the first Test they were very physically up to it and physically better than New Zealand - quicker around the paddock. Then in the second Test New Zealand stepped up a little; they were more professional and their execution was a bit better and the score got out a bit."

The tourists should tonight be reflecting on a 12th successive win over Ireland. As on that grey day in Galway, though, Ireland, under their new captain Brian O'Driscoll, will want to make life uncomfortable for their visitors.

Ireland v Australia

15 Girvan Dempsey (Terenure) 14 Shane Horgan (Lansdowne)

13 Brian O'Driscoll (Blackrock, capt)

12 Kevin Maggs (Bath)

11 Denis Hickie (Leinster)

10 Ronan O'Gara (Cork)

9 Peter Stringer (Shannon)

1 Reggie Corrigan (Greystones)

2 Shane Byrne (Blackrock)

3 John Hayes (Shannon)

4 Gary Longwell (Ballymena)

5 Mal O'Kelly (St Mary's)

6 Victor Costello (St Mary's)

7 Keith Gleeson (St Mary's)

8 Anthony Foley (Shannon)

Replacements: F Sheahan ( Cork ), P Wallace (Blackrock), L Cullen (Blackrock), A Quinlan (Shannon), G Easterby (Llanelli), D Humphreys (Dungannon)

15 Matthew Burke (NSW)

14 Wendell Sailor (Queensland)

13 Stirling Morlock (ACT)

12 Daniel Herbert (Queensland)

11 Scott Staniforth (NSW)

10 Stephen Larkham (ACT, right)

9 George Gregan (ACT, capt)

1 Nick Stiles (Queensland)

2 Adam Freier (ACT)

3 Patricio Noriega (NSW)

4 Owen Finegan (ACT)

5 David Giffin (ACT)

6 Matt Cockbain (Queensland)

7 George Smith (ACT)

8 Toutai Kefu (Queensland)

Replacements: B Cannon (NSW), B Darwin (ACT), J Harrison (ACT), D Croft (ACT), C Whitaker (NSW), E Flatley (Queensland), M Giteau (ACT)