RUGBY:The hype is intensifying, as if any meeting between Ireland and Argentina needed it. Of the 11 clashes since 1999, this is the second time when a top-eight ranking and second-tier seeding for a World Cup draw is on the line, to go with run-ins at the World Cups of '99, '03 and '07.
At times in the course of those meetings, you could almost reach out and bite the tension, so suffocating was it. On Newstalk on Wednesday, Keith Wood admitted he never played in a game as intense as Ireland’s ’03 revenge mission in the scenic, if slight surreal setting of the Adelaide Oval and this week, with an edge to the work guaranteed, there’s a real danger of this Ireland team buying into the hype.
But not Jamie Heaslip, who conveys the impression it’s water off a duck’s back, and with good reason. “When anyone mentions pressure this week, I keep hearing Cian Healy in the back of my head saying ‘pressure’s for tyres’. For us, to be honest, all the outside pressure and chat, we’re just letting it wash off us as best we can and just focusing in on us and what we have to do because it’s a tall challenge that we have.
“Argentina are a good side, they’ve a lot of experience. They’ve had a lot of games this season, which is the first time it’s happened, and we can see that they’re benefiting from it. So we’ve focused on their strengths and their weaknesses, and we’ll hopefully be able to exploit some space and make some gains.”
Simple equation
For Ireland, Saturday’s equation is simple. Win, and they have a top-eight ranking. Lose, and they won’t. There’s a one-in-four chance that, come the World Cup draw on Monday week, Ireland might end up in the same pool whether they’re in the top eight or outside it, although a top-eight ranking might well mean avoiding, say, New Zealand and the hosts, England, or possibly Argentina, whose top-eight ranking might not be forfeited even if they lost on Saturday.
But there’s also a certain symbolism attached to securing that ranking, especially as it would mean Ireland ending a sequence of five defeats in a row, albeit three of them away to the world’s best side by a distance.
As expected, Declan Kidney dipped into the feel-good factor generated by the 53-0 win over Fiji by promoting the hat-trick hero Craig Gilroy in the only change to the match-day 23 against South Africa. And viewed in all this light, it might be no harm if Ireland also dipped into some of that youthful and Ulster-infused fearlessness of last Saturday.
The key to this, said Heaslip, will be having a mantra-like understanding of their roles come a jog-through captain’s run at the Aviva this morning. “We just have those so implanted in our heads and that gives you that calmness then. Yeah, they’ll have the nerves and Gilly will probably have those first-match nerves and everyone always gets nerves, to be honest. But it doesn’t stop putting the green jersey on and when you have that clarity it just makes it a little bit easier to focus in on what you have to do and just take whatever opportunity the game throws at you with both hands and go.”
As part of this process, the squad stayed together on Wednesday’s down day to enjoy the 4x4 off-road track at their base in the Carton House. “It was good to have the squad stay together.”
In the evening they were entertained by Hermitage Green, the band in which former Munster centre Barry Murphy sings and plays bass guitar.
Although he missed out on the 2007 World Cup, Heaslip has played against Argentina three times, and asked what defines Los Pumas, smiled and said: “I was going to say they’re big. They’re big bruisers, just big men, strong men, just tough men. They’re not afraid to mix it up and get down and dirty and just grind it out.
“At the same time they have backs that can play. Unfortunately Felipe (Contepomi) isn’t playing, I would have loved to see him play, you can have so much craic with him during a game. But they’re a team that can kind of do everything and they impress me every time I play against them and every time I watch them.”
Hands full
Heaslip and his backrow will have their hands full with Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe (“a great guy, a fantastic player and a great leader”) and his amigos, with particular emphasis on the breakdown. Ireland will need to be more accurate to generate quicker and cleaner ball, with Heaslip attributing 60 per cent of their effectiveness to the carrier and 30 per cent to the first man in. “We can’t go off as lone wolves, as such, which we did once or twice in the South African game, and got turned over pretty easy.”
Kidney admitted they were “fully aware of the consequences” attached to Saturday’s match against what he reckoned are “probably the best prepared November Argentinian side we’ll ever have played against, coming off what they have done.”
Specifically with regard to the improvements necessary from a fortnight ago, the coach said: “Play for the 80 minutes. We probably got a good 40 there. We didn’t back it up then with a good 40. We probably got a good 60 against Fiji. Against Argentina we’re probably going to need to play eight good 10-minute blocks because if you drop off in any of them you’ll get seven, 10, 13 points down and they’re a hard team to claw that back off.”
Alongside him, Heaslip nodded firmly in agreement.
