Familiarity with Irish has not bred contempt for Contepomi
He looks forward to an after-match drink with a number of men who have made him feel at home in Ireland these last 15 months.
Leinster utility back and Argentinean number 10 Contepomi arrived back in Dublin as a national hero after helping to plot the downfall of France last weekend.
However, if supporters in both countries were delighted at last week’s result, the Irish will be hoping he left his finest hour behind him seven days ago.
Today he comes face to face with current Leinster back line colleagues Girvan Dempsey, Brian O’Driscoll, Shane Horgan and Denis Hickie and admits: “It will be an interesting experience for many reasons.
“I play against people I normally play on the same team with and Ireland is one of the leading teams in the world, possibly the best team in Europe. That’s the challenge.”
But Contepomi is unfazed at being in the spotlight, an obvious target for eager journalists to get his views on the game against Ireland and on what happened against France.
“I was a bit surprised that we beat France, quite honestly. This team had not been together before and the Argentinean squad was apart for eight months.
“I think we had only three or four training runs and then we went out and beat France. It’s a pretty special memory.
Contepomi was not carried away by the achievement of beating France four times in succession. “This was the first one we took in France; all others were played in Argentina and we have a pretty good record at home.
” It will be great to look back on it sometime in the future but we have a very hard game against Ireland this weekend and we have now to forget about the French result.
“This is a young team and we want to develop into a good side that can challenge the bigger countries. We see Ireland as one of them because they have such good organisation to go with the huge amount of playing talent.”
Traditionally, Argentina’s success on the pitch was forged by a huge set of forwards, allied to quality half-backs. Contepomi recognises that tradition but believes it is now time for the Pumas to move forward.
“In any event, I don’t think we (he and Augustin Pichot) are the best kicking half backs in the game.
The most important thing is being able to adapt to the conditions you face from game to game.”
He made no apologies to the French for beating them on home soil.
“It was all about adapting to the conditions.
“If they dropped the heads when we went clear in the first half (19-5) that was their own fault. They’re professional rugby players and you’re not supposed to drop like that. It was their problem, not ours.”
Neither will he apologise if Ireland bite the dust this afternoon.
“Again, we have to treat this game in a professional manner and whatever happens will happen. We’re not afraid of Ireland but we respect them.
Contepomi comes face to face with Ronan O’Gara today and is looking forward to that challenge.
“It’s one thing to come up against my Leinster colleagues but my direct opponent is Ronan. He’s one of the best in the world and I’ll be looking to see how I can do against him.”
Leinster prop Emmett Byrne has been called into the Irish squad as cover for Marcus Horan, who is suffering from a migraine. Horan will be assessed by Irish medical staff tomorrow morning.
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