RUGBY: JOHN O'SULLIVANtalks to the Ireland flanker who is under no illusions about what to expect from Argentina

TEAM SPORT demands a certain selflessness in terms of mind and body but arguably the most difficult compromise is when a player stockpiles injuries but continues to play. Denis Leamy would empathise because, by his own admission, he’s been playing injured for a considerable part of the last two years.

The pains and aches, strains, pulls and tears aren’t for public consumption so supporters, denied the background evidence, often find it difficult to reconcile reputation and performance.

In the past 13 months Leamy has played four Test matches for Ireland, starting two and coming on as a replacement twice; a meagre return when held up against his 45 Irish caps.

Injuries have been a consistent scourge during that period but for the Munster flanker, who celebrates his 29th birthday tomorrow, there are no fitness constraints at present. “I’m probably as good as I’ve been in two or three years. The last two years I played a lot while injured, whether I did admit it or not at the time.

“It’s been difficult getting out on the pitch every week, knowing you’re carrying something over the whole time, but managing to go from game to game. That put a strain on me, but at the moment I’m fit and my body is in as good a place as it’s been for a long time. It’s great just to go out and say, ‘I’m as near to 100 per cent fit as I’ve been for a long, long time’.

“That gives you a huge amount of confidence and I’m really enjoying rugby at the moment. It was pretty stressful over the last while, when I was carrying injuries. I was struggling a little bit with confidence and a little bit with form. It was disheartening from time to time but I have to say I’m really enjoying the game at the moment and I just want to play as much rugby as I can.”

He may have to display a little patience from an Irish perspective. Starting against Samoa, he came off the bench in the second half against the All Blacks and the odds are he’ll probably find himself assigned a similar role come Sunday.

Matches between Ireland and Argentina over the past decade tend to carry all the appeal of two five-year-olds fighting over a chocolate bar; it’s messy and there could be some hair-pulling. Leamy has experienced it first-hand.

“They can be very much in your face and play a very confrontational game; obviously there’s the Latin temperament and everything that goes with it,” he says.

“It is high-octane, high-paced and it will be physical and confrontational. There will no doubt be a couple of bust-ups, everything else that goes with it and a few mouthing matches. That’s the way it is. We’ve had our little bit of history with them.

“There are two sides to everything, we’re far from being angels. It comes from both sides. I watched the game (in) November (2008) and it was pretty intense.

“I played in the fixture before that (World Cup 2007) and I think there was a lot of stuff that has been carried over and boiling over for a while; so possibly we bring the worst out in each other. They are very confrontational, they make things difficult for you.

“It’s just part of the way they play the game. You can’t really knock them for bringing passion and everything that comes with it. It’s just something you have to embrace and try to match.”

One key area on Sunday is the breakdown. The Pumas are very streetwise and their aggression over the ball makes them difficult to dislodge. Leamy understands the value of low body positions in the clearing-out process but concedes that the Argentine players are technically very good.

“It’s going to be difficult against a side who are very good on the deck and at chopping your knees early; they are very good at low tackles and when you go to the deck they have someone straight over that ball. It’ll be a tough job for our backrow and our secondrow to clear those bodies away.”

Ireland will need quick ball if they hope to pursue the same patterns of play they showed against New Zealand. Leamy recognises the need for a similar effort.

“We’ve got to be as disciplined and as positive as we can within the game. We got the structure we wanted to play (last Saturday) and that yielded a couple of very good tries. It’s one of the positives from the game plan we had and we just need to up it and bring it on another level now.”

It will be a decent test of the progress made through November as Argentina won’t accommodate the notion of a freewheeling contest: two strong-willed teams divided by ambition.