JOE REFUSES TO PLAY SAFE
With just five caps across three-quarter line, coach is looking to the future
HERE’S a tussle to savour, possibly the best contest of this November series. There have been utter rubbish winter clashes with Argentina before. No-one who was there will ever forget the dreadful muck of the Croke Park meeting nine years ago, but a dire lack of quality isn’t expected this evening. Far from it.
Yes, this Argentina side has been playing in fits and starts, their European outings against England and Italy a continuation of their struggles in the Rugby Championship.
But having put the skids under Ireland 25 months ago at the World Cup, they will be optimistic they can sufficiently gel again and take advantage of those areas of potential Irish vulnerability.
Joe Schmidt has refreshingly forgotten where his team selection handbrake is. Normally one who aspires to consistency in his choices — experience habitually favoured over freshfaced enthusiasm in the bigger games — his generosity in presenting low key tour opportunities in June has excitingly spilled into this third weekend of November fixtures.
His hunger to keep mixing it up and explore the depths of his squad is admirable. He could understandably play it safe and not expose his team to self-inflicted risk, but the pain of October 2015 ensures he wants to beat Argentina.
And in doing so, come 7.30pm this evening we will know a heck of a lot more about first-time starter James Ryan and whether his training ground pedigree is transferrable to the big Test stage at the age of just 21.
Similarly, with debut-making Adam Byrne and the quest to prove there is viable life after Simon Zebo’s exile. Byrne’s aerial threat could be just the thing to profit under the bombardment expected to be unleashed by the Irish half-backs.
What will unsettle home supporters is the obvious lack of experience in the three-quarter line: Schmidt’s quartet has a paltry five caps in contrast to the Argentine’s collective 97 caps.
However, while this has sparked anxious flashbacks to the way the Pumas went around Ireland to score early at the World Cup, what must not be forgotten is this isn’t an Irish pack shorn of its big-hitters, as was the case at the Millennium. And, crucially, Johnny Sexton is also in harness on this occasion.
It might sound trite but rugby’s fundamentals remain the same. Forwards decide who wins matches and on this month’s evidence, the Irish seven wrapping itself around the raw Ryan demonstrated better cohesiveness in dismantling South Africa than the Puma eight achieved in losing in London and eventually winning in Florence.
The control Ireland exerted at the Aviva a fortnight ago was exceptional, their set-piece reliable and their conscienciousness at the breakdown and in the collisions leaving the visitors know who was boss.
That’s a fluency which still eludes Argentina who remain prone to giving up far too many shots at goal — England kicking three of four first-half attempts while Italy were four-from-four after 50 minutes.
It’s a pattern that will give Ireland optimism they can lay a similar foundation to the South Africa game, the scoreboard ticking over three, six and nine before a try and a fourth penalty were added for an uncatchable 17-3 advantage.
What will concern the Pumas is that six of Italy’s dozen penalty points stemmed from two scrum infringements on a day they had conceded three set-piece penalties — the lacklustre Santiago Botta in the dock — and a free for a crooked feed, errors not usually associated with them. Contrast that to Ireland’s scrum that filleted the Boks to the tune of four penalties won.
Argentina’s lineout is another curiosity, imperious in London but out of sync in Florence on its throw, a wobble not helped by a frequent refusal to get a man up in the air to contest Italian ball.
They started poorly, too: their ineffectiveness in the Italian 22 was highlighted by conceding two ruck turnovers and a pair of penalties for crossing in five firsthalf visits to the red zone.
Their best work was without the ball, four penalties foraged for no release with an Italian ball carrier all wrapped up, and this is the devilish tactic they will seek to employ to draw the sting out of the Irish carry.
Sexton and Murray will demand their pack be every bit as clinical as they were two weeks ago. The last thing they want is Argentina, with Pablo Matera their inspiring figurehead, winning too many collisions. Securing enough possession and territory, he can empower capable half-backs who were unstoppable in that World Cup meeting in 2015.
Another enterprising contribution from that dangerous duo could be a recipe for disaster given the uncertainty about Ireland’s cohesion further out, but it’s this doubt about Irish defensive solidity which is giving this contest its intrigue.
Winning it with all that extra worry will make it all the sweeter.