O’Driscoll: we’re up against 15 Alan Quinlans

WORD on the grapevine for the last few months had it that Argentina hold ambitions of playing a far more expansive game than the attrition-based forward slaughter they usually favour.

Brian O’Driscoll, has a warning though: don’t believe the width.

The Irish captain has experienced the full gamut of emotions when facing the Pumas, from the horror of Lens in RWC ’99 to the nail-biting one-point win in Adelaide 13 months ago. Whatever the result though, the game itself has never deviated from the same script - a dogfight where no quarter can be expected or given.

The South American ‘bajada’ is well known and feared, but a back-line bristling with talent and intent like Agustin Pichot, the Contepomi brothers and 22-year-old Juan Hernandez is eking out its own reputation. The win over the in-form French last weekend has merely signposted the side’s capabilities before their arrival in Dublin.

O’Driscoll doesn’t discount that sort of attacking flair but believes that when push comes to shove, the Argentinians will revert to type. “The Pumas are particularly good at what they know they’re good at, which is keeping it tight, keeping it rumbling, moving it forward.

“At the same time I have seen them score some exciting tries. I do think they’re missing (Ignacio) Corleto at full-back because he’s a very good runner with ball in hand and the retirement of (Diego) Albanese and some of those guys has made it a little bit more difficult to be flashy.

“They can mix it up but invariably when games get tight their game gets tight as well. I guess the best way to describe them is as playing against 15 Alan Quinlans.”

Argentina’s win over France was undoubtedly aided by the inside knowledge a dozen French-based Pumas could feed coach Marcelo Loffreda beforehand, but Ireland and the tourists are equally as familiar to one another after the meetings of recent years.

O’Driscoll has also played alongside Pichot and Mauricio Reggiardo for the Barbarians in the past, but it will be Felipe Contepomi who will be the most familiar ‘visitor’ to Irish fans.

He may be struggling to hold down a jersey with Leinster right now, but the former Bristol player was pivotal in Argentina’s success in Marseille, not that that took O’Driscoll by surprise.

“He’s comfortable at full-back, at 10, in the centre. He’s just a good footballer in general and good footballers can invariably slot in where they’re needed in different positions.” Jake White aside, talking up the opposition is, of course, a staple diet of international week, but O’Driscoll’s words are plainly more than just the usual bland pleasantries.

For all that, was he a bit taken aback by the Pumas’ win over a French side seeking a record nine wins on the trot?

“I guess ... yeah, because France hadn’t lost in Marseille in God knows how long. Then you hear they’ve beaten them the last four times so, when you hear things like that you’re not overly surprised.”

A similar raid on Lansdowne Road would ruin much of the work done in beating the Springboks and leave Ireland approaching the Six Nations in far less upbeat mood. Conversely, a second successive win over another first-tier nation would be proof positive of progress, especially after the deflating summer tour to South Africa.

“We’ve worked hard on aspects of our game. We’re trying to move up to the next level by being a more consistent side, not putting out any more bad performances. We slipped up a couple of times over the summer. We didn’t play the way we wanted to but we’ve bounced back well since then. We’ve shown what we’re capable of but it’s just a matter of keeping up with that benchmark now.

“So far we’ve done well. We’ve dug deep in the last five, ten minutes against South Africa when they were hammering away at our line. The spirit we took out of that and the fact that we were so pig-headed in not letting them over will really stand to us ... but there is still another 80 minutes of rugby to go. We’ll have to play extremely well to beat the Pumas.”