Ireland vs Argentina, Build-Up and Match Thread

[Notch]

First topic message reminder :

Ireland's date with destiny fast approaches. Win and we are absolutely certain of a Second Tier seeding at the 2015 RWC. Lose... and we are at the mercy of other results. Argentina sit just ahead of us in the World Rankings table in sixth and will also be looking to copper-fasten their spot. There'll be no love lost between the two sides; these games are always confrontational and Argentina have a fair bit of momentum coming into this with a very credible win in Cardiff. They failed to register a win in their debut rugby championship season but the lessons learned make them a much more dangerous beast than the naive bruisers we've faced in the past. They've kept all their passion and physicality, but now have a fine young generation of elusive and skillful backs and a much better balance to their game. Two of those- Horacio Agulla and Lucas Amorosino- have been omitted by Santiago Phelan for this game but watch out for Juan Jose Imhoff and Gonzalo Camacho.

http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,3885_8259078,00.html

Argentina: Marcos Ayerza, Marcelo Bosch, Maximiliano Bustos, Gonzalo Camacho, Manuel Carizza, Santiago Cordero, Agustín Creevy, Tomas Cubelli, Tomas De la Vega, Julio Farias Cabello, Juan Martín Fernandez Lobbe (capt), Santiago Fernandez, Francisco Gomez Kodela, Juan Cruz Guillemain, Eusebio Guinazu, Juan Martin Hernandez, Juan Jose Imhoff, Martín Landajo, Juan Manuel Leguizamon, Tomas Leonardi, Nahuel Lobo, Manuel Montero, Bruno Postiglioni, Federico Sanchez, Leonardo Senatore, Gonzalo Tiesu, Joaquin Tuculet, Tomás Vallejos, Nicolas Vergallo.

Talking of backs, Ireland coach Declan Kidney has a number of decisions to make after a much-changed backline ran rampant against against an admittedly under-strength and uncommitted Fijian side. Media and fans have been clamouring to see more of the likes of Craig Gilroy, Luke Marshall and Paddy Jackson but when he selects his side the Cork man has to counter-balance their obvious potential against the naivety of our last opponents and the value of experience. It would be no surprise if he mainly stuck to the conservative option; expect a few new faces but no radical, fundamental change. He'll be hoping Johnny Sexton recovers from an injury picked up in the warm-up on Saturday; he's scheduled to return to training on Thursday, the same day the team is named.

Teams to be edited in when they are announced. Discuss.

[Golden]

Double post

[Golden]

He should still be given the boot. Even if we win a grand slam.

Why don't we have faith in ourselves as a rugby nation. We have the players. Better players than Kidney's rubbish rugby is producing..

Of course we have good players. Last three ERC player of the year has been Irish. ireland is also the most nominated NH country for IRB player of the year.

Can never understand why my own countrymen have such a lack of confidence in our own players. Its such nonsense.

I think he means is that we have the players to be playing better than how we are under Kidney not that we dont have talented players.

[GunsGerms]

He should still be given the boot. Even if we win a grand slam.

Why don't we have faith in ourselves as a rugby nation. We have the players. Better players than Kidney's rubbish rugby is producing..

Of course we have good players. Last three ERC player of the year has been Irish. ireland is also the most nominated NH country for IRB player of the year.

Can never understand why my own countrymen have such a lack of confidence in our own players. Its such nonsense.

I think he means is that we have the players to be playing better than how we are under Kidney not that we dont have talented players.

I think you will find I was essentially agreeing with him.

[Golden]

Oh right sorry, read that wrong

[thebandwagonsociety]

Some observations on the weekend;

- ball presentation to Murray was great for most of the game, it meant he could fetch and pass in one motion a lot of the time.

- no forwards really stood into the line as first receiver, instead letting Murray pass straight to Sexton and keep the pace/tempo of the game nice and high.

- they played as a single team. Sexton was the first to congratulate Gilroy, Ryan was in to congratulate Strauss, I think everyone manned up for the little handbag incident. It was great to see. Maybe this is a learning point for the Irish on 606v2!

- Bent does some good cameo's off the bench to shore up the scrum and most of the whispers about him blowing straight into a green jersey which even playing for a province is ignored. In my mind it shouldn't have been an issue in the first place, if they believe you're good enough, should you have to 'serve time' before being called in?

- Strauss sings the national anthem (something only half the people in the ground sign, the rest hum because they don't know the words) and most of this 'only pure irish allowed' quietens down. If he had a howler, I fear everyone would have continued to run the 'only pure irish argument'. Fair dues to the people who feel that way and consistent voice it, but I don't like the undercurrent that a players quality factors into that kind of debate. is that just me?

- Most of the players given a chance these last few games, have really shown they can bring something to the table. I want Ireland to keep this approach up, develop a squad that can be mixed and matched without panic and hysteria, have a full squad that can play good style of rugby and have faith in a system rather than falling into a place where we believe we have to rely on a few players to produce magic from nowhere.

[Gibson]

Great post Band. Excellent observations man.

[Feckless Rogue]

We went backwards again after the excellent displays against England and Australia. Maybe it'll be third time lucky and this is the start of an upturn.

It's four years ago we were down in the dumps and had to come up with a win against the Puma's to stay in the top 8. We won.

Then this happened

[tecphobe]

we are very close to a thousand replies on this can we do it?

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