Anyone notice the prowling Pumas?

FOR ALL kinds of reasons, Saturday’s victory over England will live in the memory for a long, long time.

Given the pressures the players were under to perform against the emotional background of history and the defeat to France, Saturday’s result will give Eddie O’Sullivan more satisfaction than most during his successful tenure to date.

This current squad and management have shown a level-headedness and maturity which only comes from collective experience through the team and coaching staff. It is just as well. There is a tendency within sections of the media in this country to over-hype the notable successes and predict doom and gloom in the wake of defeat. Such was the case during the autumn internationals of 2005 when, as a result of successive defeats to New Zealand (hardly a crime) and Australia, some even called for the head of O’Sullivan. It was a ridiculous call then and looks even more absurd now.

In victory or defeat, the players have always been refreshingly honest, analysing their shortcomings with the promise of rectifying deficiencies through honest endeavour and hard work. With back to back Triple Crowns now within their grasp, for many of the current squad a third in four seasons, the plaudits are sure to come thick and fast. The players and management fully realise, however, that the watershed for this current squad comes next September with the World Cup.

Everything before then is a means to an end.

Beavering away almost unnoticed, one of Ireland’s principle pool rivals Argentina has availed of the Six

Nations window to conduct training camps of their own. Over the years, Argentina has suffered badly due to lack of involvement in any of the major world tournaments. With so many players scattered around the globe, the opportunity for collective preparation has been extremely limited.

Now, with 37 professional contracted players in France alone, they have used the French championship shut-down during the Six Nations to their advantage. Already this month the Pumas have played warm up games against Northampton and Leicester, registering comprehensive victories in both.

Next Saturday in Biarritz, they play a French Barbarians side that contains 12 of Bernard Laporte’s 40-man Six Nations squad who have been denied game time recently along with the flying Fijian winger Rupeni Caucaunibuca.

Argentine coach Marcelo Loffreda has called on only six South American-based players in his squad of 24. With the exception of Leinster’s Felipe Contepomi, the balance all play with French clubs. It is somewhat ironic that the French are inadvertently aiding Argentina’s World Cup cause given they are rivals in Pool D along with Ireland, Namibia and Georgia.

Eddie O’Sullivan will be acutely aware that the best chance for Ireland to reach the final of next autumn’s competition is to emerge as pool leaders. That will necessitate victories over both France and Argentina. Defeat to one of them will result in a quarter final against New Zealand in Cardiff, while defeat to both will mean elimination. Despite the flattering praise emanating from the All Black camp, and the implication Graham Henry’s men would rather face France, they will be primed for all opposition. The displays of the New Zealand sides in the Super 14 competition even without the frontline All Blacks is highly impressive.

With Argentina facing Ireland twice on home soil on May 26 and June 2, Loffreda will have had sufficient hands-on experience of his main pool rivals to keep his coaching team working overtime. With that in mind, one suspects that Eddie O’Sullivan could well leave some of Ireland’s key players at home during the trip to Buenos Aires.

The strength in depth of the French squad is highlighted by the fact that Bernard Laporte has chosen Saturday’s game to try out new combinations in key areas on the field. At half-back he has paired experienced Toulouse scrum-half Jean Baptiste Elissalde with the restart tormenter of Ireland, Lionel Beauxis. In the back row, one of the stars of last year’s Six Nations, Yannick Nyanga, who has been unavailable recently due to injury, is reunited with Biarritz captain Thomas Lievremont and Thierry Dusautoir. The multi-capped Aurelien Rougerie and Damien Traille also feature in a potent back line. Having used 16 different forwards in this year’s championship, Laporte is building a squad which, when all are available, will ensure that he will have the capacity of fielding two international sides of comparable strength. More importantly, the majority of those combinations will have had game time against quality international opposition.

While Ireland’s first choice side is capable of beating any international opposition on any given day, as the loss to France proved, the loss of key individuals has the capacity to do serious damage to our World Cup prospects.

Argentina, with notable victories against Italy and England this season, lost narrowly to France at the Stade de France last November. The French decision to suspend their domestic competition to aid their Six Nation efforts could now come back to haunt them given the additional training time it has afforded Loffreda’s men. Hats off to him for having the vision to maximise this period of inactivity.

Given Eddie O’Sullivan’s penchant for meticulous planning I wouldn’t be surprised if some member of his backroom staff will be slipping in unnoticed into the Parc des Sports Aguilera next Saturday.

With so many World Cup opponents in action it may prove a fruitful exercise.