IT WILL BE nice to avoid them in 2019.
Because facing Argentina is ordinarily an extremely uncomfortable proposition for Ireland, and never more so than when South America’s finest get themselves all revved up for a World Cup.
La Albiceleste represent landmark moments in Irish World Cup history. Lows usually: Lens ’99, revenge at the cost of Alan Quinlan’s shoulder in ’03 and, yes, that 2015 quarter-final exit in Cardiff.
No, wait… there’s something missing from that list. A memory we’ve tried to repress, yet keeps rearing its ugly, ugly head.
“When you look back and put everything down, that World Cup will certainly be in the top three in terms of most disappointing moments in my career,” Rory Best says of 2007.
That meeting, a 30 – 15 defeat, came with Ireland chasing a bonus point that might have nudged them through into the quarter-final stages. The further Ireland reached, the more the Pumas delighted in slipping inside and and delivering gut-shots.
Of course, Argentina were just a small part of what was an unmitigated disaster of a World Cup for Ireland, the nail in a coffin. And thus a team who looked capable of making a mark on the tournament sank without trace.
“To go there off the back of being two minutes away from Grand Slamming, from all the hope generated by the Six Nations beforehand, we stuttered into the World Cup warm-ups. We scored a last minute drop goal to beat Italy in Ravenhill. Then we just got to France and assumed everything would just click.
“We had that wonderful friendly against Bayonne,” Best adds with a dry wit.
“Things just didn’t click and even the Georgia game – I am pretty sure they scored right at the death to potentially win the game even though it was ruled that he was held up – nothing clicked for us in that tournament.
By the time it got to the Argentina game, there was almost a feeling around the camp, and I will never forget it, that people just wanted to go home.
“They had had enough. We obviously went out there knowing we needed a performance of a lifetime to beat them and everyone was just fed up. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a squad like that since.
“It’s hard to say what happened, but I think there was so much being thrown at us, we weren’t playing well, we were stuck in that place down in Bordeaux and it was really not pleasant at all.”
Mercifully, or perhaps this is what adds to the anguish of the three World Cup defeats, Ireland’s record on home soil against the Pumas is completely different. Seven wins from seven since the rivalry kicked off in 1990.
With Argentina looking suspiciously like a side who have run out of steam, this Test feels much more like the last encounter in Dublin – the 46 – 24 Simon Zebo and Craig Gilroy inspired rout. At worst, it may have more in common with the six tight, tense arm-wrestles that preceded it.
Joe Schmidt probably wouldn’t be averse to something of a grappling match, finding comfort in uncomfortable situations has been a theme he has hit on various times over this month.
This week, Schmidt looked back on occasions when his time have mined victory from ‘destabilised’ positions and he has not shied away from offering up big-match experience in this series-ending Test.
That the entire three-quarter line bring just five caps between them means that Bundee Aki and Farrell will have been assigned plenty of homework to prepare for another brand new centre combination. The Connacht man’s influence will be critical as he is capable of sharing some of the onus of knitting together the back-line attack and defence with Jonathan Sexton.
Sexton has never had the pleasure of facing Argentina at a World Cup, but he’s here to help Ireland finish off this experiment-heavy November in style.
Do that, complete with the changes and opportunities that have been handed out in this window, and it will raise those pesky World Cup hopes up again as Ireland follow a trajectory towards Japan 2019.
“The one thing we’ve shown, and it’s probably been a bit of an Achilles heel of Ireland teams when you go way back, is that depth,” says Best.
“It’s having the balance between getting your best team out and getting performances but also making sure you’re bringing through and nurturing young talent in the right environment
“I think with the senior players we have around the place, I think that has been done.
“In ’07, we thought the trajectory was good. We looked really impressive in that last game of the Six Nations, we smashed Italy and potentially, had we not conceded a late try we would have won the Championship.
“When you get to World Cups, it seems so far away but I’m sure it’ll come in a flash, ultimately it’ll comes down to on-the-day and you need a little bit of luck in terms of injuries and unforeseeable things
“I feel that the squad is evolving pretty well at the minute and I think it’s important we continue to do that while also maintaining a level of performance that we’re really not happy to drop below.”
Especially not against Argentina of all teams.
Ireland
15. Rob Kearney
14. Adam Byrne
13. Chris Farrell
12. Bundee Aki
11. Jacob Stockdale
10. Jonathan Sexton
9. Conor Murray
1. Cian Healy
2. Rory Best Capt.
3. Tadhg Furlong
4. James Ryan
5. Iain Henderson
6. Peter O’Mahony
7. Sean O’Brien
8. CJ Stander
Replacements:
16. James Tracy
17. Dave Kilcoyne
18. John Ryan
19. Devin Toner
20. Rhys Ruddock
21. Luke McGrath
22. Ian Keatley
23. Andrew Conway
Argentina
15. Joaquin Tuculet
14. Ramiro Moyano
13. Matias Moroni
12. Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias
11. Emiliano Boffelli
10. Nicolas Sanchez
9. Martin Landajo
1. Santiago Garcia Botta
2. Agustin Creevy Capt.
3. Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro
4. Matias Alemanno
5. Tomas Lavanini
6. Pablo Matera
7. Marcos Kremer
8. Tomas Lezana
Replacements:
16. Julian Montoya
17. Lucas Noguera
18. Enrique Pieretto
19. Guido Petti
20. Juan Manuel Leguizamon
21. Gonzalo Bertranou
22. Jeronimo de la Fuente
23. Sebastian Cancelliere
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