Longwell ready to do battle with Puma pack

HE had done his bit, had Gary Longwell, played his part in beating the Wallabies and been intoxicated by the wonderful lap of honour.

But it was not until the Ballymena man arrived back home, away from the splendid isolation of the Ireland team hotel having been told he was being rested for the Fijian game, that the realisation he had helped defeat the world champion Australians really hit home.

He had been preoccupied with the fact he was being rested, a difficult thing to accept having waited 29 years for his first Irish cap.

"I'd had quite a run in the side and played on the New Zealand tour," Longwell, 31, said, "but then I was rested last week, unfortunately. I

understand the reasons but I was still disappointed. I love to play in every match. We all want to play in every game we can so it was hard to sit back and watch that one.

"It took me an awful long time to get my first cap, I was 29-years-old, and when the door opens that late you really want to take your chance and make sure that every game you play in, you really put the most into it you possibly can.

"But having said that it had felt great to have been in the side the week before and to have beaten Australia. I was back up in Northern Ireland and everybody seemed to pat me on the back and say well done. And it was then I realised the victory seemed to have really caught the imagination.

"I wouldn't have seen that or been able to relate to that if I'd been in camp with the rest of the players.ou wouldn't have realised how much it meant to the people out there. It was a fantastic feeling and with the lap of honour after the match it was certainly one of the highlights of my career."

It was unbelievable with all the music and all. It was a great night for us."

Another thought provoking moment for Longwell came when he received a phone call from close friend and former Ireland centre, Mark McCall.

"Friends of mine, past internationals, have rung me to congratulate me and they've told me how lucky I am to be in an Irish team to beat the Australians and be winning on a regular basis. People like Mark McCall, who said that when he was playing for

Ireland they were winning maybe one game in every four or five. We're now at a level where we're in a position to win every game."

So the bar has been raised for Irish rugby, not just by the fans but from within coach Eddie O'Sullivan's Irish camp as well.

"The big thing for me," Longwell continued, "and I think I'm fairly sure for the other boys too, is that victory has made us hungry for that sort of success now.

"Once you've tasted moments like that you desire them and you want to repeat those feelings every time you play again.

"Expectations have risen with that success of course, but I think we've got a very good set up now to deal with that.

"A big plus to that is that we're very well organised. Eddie's done a fantastic job with that side of things and everybody knows exactly what the sessions are about, how long they're going to last and what we're trying to achieve.

"We've also got a lot back up coaches, video staff and so on, and so the players can now see exactly what they're doing or if there's something that's not quite right.

"That's such a bonus when it comes to the match. And when the match comes round it puts a totally different perspective on things. We've been able to fix things during the week and that's a very big plus for us."

There's no doubt in Longwell's mind that this weekend's match against Argentina, his 19th international appearance, will have needed the utmost preparation if Ireland are to emerge with their sixth win out of sixth since the start of the season.

The Pumas' pack brings with it to Dublin a fearsome reputation for strength, passion and physicality. It does not worry the 6ft 7in second row one little bit.

"As forwards, that's what you love. You look forward to every battle and we have a lot of respect for the Argentineans. They've been together for an awful long time now nine or 10 of them were involved in the 1999 World Cup and as a pack of forwards we know we're going to be in for a big battle on Saturday.

"But after what we achieved against the Australians, we have to back ourselves. The next time we play Argentina after this will be in the World Cup and it's important to get that sort of psychological edge on them.

"It is a one-off match, but come the World Cup this game will have some relevance in terms of who's in the driving seat going into it.

"So it's a big, big game and it's important also because we are on a roll now. We've had a good

autumn but if we can win this it will have been a great autumn. Six wins out six and going into the Six Nations with confidence."