IRELAND AND ARGENTINA head into Sunday’s game at the Aviva Stadium on the back of two very different seasons.
Andy Farrell’s squad have just two games under their belt since the summer, building on the July wins over Japan and the USA with a pair of superb performances against Japan and New Zealand this month.
Argentina meanwhile have been slogging away on a tour that has brought them right across the globe.
The Pumas have played eight Tests since August, a run which included heavy defeats to South Africa, New Zealand and Australia before a more encouraging European tour, causing France some problems in a nine-point defeat and beating Italy 37-16 last week.
“They’ll be well seasoned in terms of having a fair bit of match fitness behind them,” says Ireland’s Iain Henderson, who continues his second row partnership with James Ryan this weekend.
They’ll be no strangers to playing big, long hard games. I think that seeing how we played last week, they’ll be looking to rough us up a bit, maybe slow our game down a bit, not give us as expansive a style of rugby as we want to play.
“We’ve seen a few of their players with turnover breakdown threats, which again would stunt our possession and sort of give the territory which we had against New Zealand a hit.
“I think those are the things that they’ll be looking at and the things that we’ll be aware they’re trying to get at. So hopefully we can negate those factors and play the way we want to play.”
With the same pack that started against the All Blacks lining out this weekend, the hope is that Ireland can build on that stunning performance when Mario Ledesma’s team visit the Aviva.
However, Henderson says that some of Ireland’s struggles earlier this year are a reminder that things won’t always run smoothly in attack.
“It’s frustrating, when you want to play like that, sometimes when teams resist you trying to play like that you’re going to get some games where it does not click and does not flow,” he explains.
If it doesn’t happen in one game it doesn’t mean it’s all failed, you can go back and review. It’s very simple and very easy to pick out an instance of why it isn’t flowing. All it takes is for one play to go right and it looks like a team is flowing very well because they score an extra try, or similarly if one play doesn’t go right it looks like you’re not really playing well.
“The more we spend time together as a group, the more time we’re getting together on the training pitch, and that’s only benefiting us, and hopefully we’re starting to see the fruits of that.”
This weekend will also represent this first time Henderson plays alongside Ulster teammate Robert Baloucoune at international level, having been away with the British and Irish Lions when the winger made his Test debut over the summer.
“He’s been in a few other camps as a development player and he’s definitely set a few training sessions alight and shown guys what he brings in terms of his pace and his defensive reads.
“He’s done really well. I think the wings that started the previous two games, you couldn’t fault them, I thought they did brilliantly.
“But obviously Faz has an idea in his mind that he wants to give the Cat, as he’s called, a shot. I think he’s excited to get another opportunity on the big stage. This will be his first Ireland game in front of a full stadium so I think he’s excited about that and we’re all excited to see what he can do in front of that.
“He’s probably one of the most chilled guys you’ll ever come across. He’s pretty switched in, he doesn’t get many things wrong. Even though he appears to be laid out and chilled, you can tell he’s clearly switched in and doesn’t miss a lot of detail.
“But ultimately he’s chilled, relaxed, nothing seems to faze him.”
Bernard Jackman, Gavan Casey, and Murray Kinsella reflect on Ireland’s stunning win over the All Blacks, hail Ciara Griffin’s Ireland career, and chat about Rassie:
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