THEY CAN’T TAKE IT ANDY

Farrell needs fringe men to show they’re up to speed with plans AVIVA STADIUM SUNDAY 2.15PM

ANDY FARRELL will put the onus on some key reserves to show that they can get up to speed with his rugby revolution.

The Ireland head coach would have planned to freshen things up for Sunday’s clash with Argentina, given that 14 players have started both previous games.

The likelihood is that Robbie Henshaw will get minutes for the first time this season after his foot injury.

Gavin Coombes, who missed the victories over Japan and the All Blacks through sickness, is also likely to play while there are plenty of players, such as experienced pair Conor Murray and Peter O’mahony, putting their hands up for starts.

Undoubtedly, the loss of Johnny Sexton for up to six weeks with the knee injury he suffered in the firsthalf of Saturday’s victory is a blow to hopes of completing the Autumn Series clean sweep.

It means Munster’s Joey Carbery should get the chance to run the team against the Pumas, with Connacht’s in-form fly-half Jack Carty called in as cover.

Speaking ahead of the All Blacks game, Ronan O’gara said Carty had improved – eliminating “howlers” from his game – and had to believe that his chance will come.

“I think after the squad was announced Jack had two very impressive performances,” said O’gara.

“His opportunity may come in the Six Nations but he needs to be consistently delivering for Connacht, who probably have been a little bit hit and miss, but more hit in latter weeks.

“You’re talking about trying to play for Ireland, trying to push Johnny Sexton aside. It’s a big ask but it can be done.”

Farrell be keen to see how it goes because while Sexton proved again last weekend that he is still Ireland’s best on-field director, he is also vulnerable to injury.

And Carbery – who has been slowly working his way back to form and full fitness after his 13 month Test absence with ankle and wrist injuries – showed real character to guide the team to victory over the final 15 minutes last Saturday.

O’gara assessed: “Harry Byrne had very few minutes for Leinster and Joey Carbery had minutes for Munster but probably mixed from that fact that he’s coming back from a very, very serious injury and he still looks like he’s establishing a routine of high performance for himself, where he’s just about trying to get confidence.

“It’s very hard for a 10 to get confidence at Test level through playing games.

“You have to get that at club level and hit the ground running and then bang, all of a sudden you come to Irish camp and you’re humming.

“The key for me is that there are going to be probably seven games, in the fact that four will be really competitive in the Six Nations and three in New Zealand.

“And only at the end of that will we probably have a definitive solution or not whether there are challengers to Johnny.”

PLAYING CATCH-UP Robbie Henshaw’s missed a lot of rugby while Joey Carbery (inset) has had his own issues