This Irish team tend not to do successive defeats under Andy Farrell. The one and only time was back in the dark old days of the pandemic and empty echo chambers, when Ireland followed up an opening 21-16 loss away to Wales in the 2021 Six Nations with a 15-13 defeat at home to France a week later. That even had some pundits calling for Farrell’s head.
Ireland responded to those setbacks with a nine-game winning streak and when that came to an end in the 2022 Six Nations in Paris, they beat Italy 57-6 a week later. Their response to the 42-19 loss in the first Test in Eden Park was to win a week later in Dunedin before completing a series win.
Similarly, after that heartbreaking World Cup quarter-final defeat, Ireland’s next outing was a 38-17 win in the Six Nations opener in Marseilles. After losing to England in Twickenham last year, an unchanged side sealed the title at home to Scotland, albeit not that impressively, and they responded to the first Test defeat in Pretoria by levelling the series in Durban a week later.
“Yeah, and that’s certainly been addressed,” said Farrell after unveiling his side to face Argentina next Friday at the Aviva Stadium (kick-off 8.10pm) a week after losing 23-13 to New Zealand.
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“We’ve talked about that, our story, this week quite a bit. Lessons learned from those defeats have been really good for us, actually, in our development.
“It makes a loss that hurts a little easier to take if that’s the case so there’s a determination to make sure the same thing happens this week.”
The Felipe Contepomi interview
Save for recalling Robbie Henshaw to the exclusion of the unlucky Bundee Aki, as Farrell did for the second Test in Kings Park, the other four changes are on the bench, from where Cian Healy is in line to equal Brian O’Driscoll’s Irish record of 133 caps.
Farrell admitted one of the greatest pleasures of his job is to afford players their first caps. “I don’t get bored of saying that we’re the lucky ones. We’ll celebrate that this evening with their families,” said Farrell as the uncapped duo of Thomas Clarkson and Sam Prendergast replace the sidelined Tom O’Toole and the demoted Ciarán Frawley, who has certainly experienced the cruelly fickle nature of sport from Durban to last week and now this. Ryan Baird and Craig Casey have also been preferred to Iain Henderson and Conor Murray.
“Honestly, it wasn’t the bench’s fault last week,” stressed Farrell to the media in the Bective Rangers clubhouse after the kickers had practised in Energia Park. “When the bench came on it was a bit flat. That’s not their fault. So, I’m hoping for more from the starting XV and the guys that come on as well.”
“You’ve heard me say before that sometimes you drop people and after a conversation five minutes later you wish you picked them because they get another chance.
“So, there’s a bit of that, a bit of hurt and a reaction and that will come as well but at the same time we haven’t got thousands of players anyway. It is what it is, and we know where our bread’s buttered and we’ve got to act according to that and make the group stronger the whole time by giving them an opportunity either to right some wrongs or take an opportunity that’s in front of them,” said Farrell, who added that a perceived weakness in a limited pool of players can also be a strength.
Jack Crowley is certainly feeling additional pressure from Prendergast. “Jack, along with quite a few of our players, would have been hoping for better performance,” said Farrell, who added pointedly: “Some of them are lucky enough to get another chance to do that, others are coming in and some of them played pretty well themselves, but there were too many people not right at their best last week and we’re hoping for everyone to improve, not just Jack.
“Obviously, the control of the game is something that Jack would be open and honest about of wanting to step up a little bit this weekend, but we’ve certainly seen that in training this week.”
As for the 21-year-old Prendergast, “he’s ready,” declared Farrell, adding that despite limited game time with Leinster, “in his own mind he’d probably thought he’s been ready for quite some time because he’s a confident kid.
“The reason for taking him on the Emerging [Ireland] tour was to make sure that he understood what it was to grab hold of his team and show that he is in charge. He showed that in abundance, we’ve seen the knock-on effect from that in the last couple of weeks. He’s going to make his mistakes, but that’s the nature of anyone coming through.”
[ Ireland fall to third in world rankings after defeat to New ZealandOpens in new window ]
For all the desired tactical and technical improvements Farrell also wants to see “more intent”, adding: “That sounds very generic but to win a top-level game, to be half a second off on most things – I’m talking kick-chases, speed off the floor, reaction to something that’s not going your way – that spills over into ill-discipline. The sport is a continuity sport and a lot of things have to come together.”
What makes Friday’s game additionally intriguing is the palpable progress this Pumas team has made under Felipe Contepomi. They are also a more ambitious side.
“They’re more of a complete team, that’s for sure. They’re not backs and forwards any more, they’re a team that play an exciting brand of rugby.
“It’s amazing to see how much more comfortable on the ball the forwards are. The interlinking between the backs and the forwards is seamless but at the same time they’ve still got their DNA, the spirit, the fighting spirit and the dangerous, exciting outside backs as well.”
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