O’Donovan: Puma pack will try to ‘rattle’ Irish forwards
The Ireland forwards coach was delighted that the tourists held their own against one of the most formidable forward units in world rugby in the first test in Santa Fe last weekend, but the Shannon man has his troops on guard for a potential backlash from the Pumas.
“They would look at their scrum as their strong point and are going to come out and try to rattle us at the start of the game. There is no doubt about that. We need to get into our game plan as quickly as possible.
“They have changed a lot of their backs and made one change to their pack. They will look to target our pack. They have come out openly and said that. They will probably be more settled than we will be.”
O’Donovan wasn’t going to get drawn into the comments made in the Argentine press that Ireland were somehow gaining revenge for what happened at the World Cup in Adelaide four years ago by adopting what Felipe Contepomi said were “rough house tactics” in the first test.
“We’ve moved on from there. We’re concentrating on what we need to do now.
I’ve gone through the tape. There’s very little in it. There are the two incidents that were pulled by the referee.
“I don’t really want to get involved in the tit-for-tat of what happened four years ago. What happened last Saturday, happened last Saturday. We have to concentrate on this Saturday.”
O’Donovan stressed that Ireland need to be more disciplined and reduce their penalty count if they are to come away with a first “official” test win on Argentine soil. Ireland’s last victory in Argentina came in 1952 (0-6), but that game wasn’t accorded official test status.
Last Saturday Ireland conceded 13 penalties that, according to Eddie O’Sullivan, cost them the match. Contepomi was in regal form, kicking 17 of side’s points including the injury-time drop goal which gave the Los Pumas a 22-20 win.
“The one area where we need to tidy up in is our discipline,” said O’Donovan. “You can give away ‘good’ penalties. It is the bad ones that get you into trouble where it brings the opposition from their half into yours and within striking distance.”
Skills and continuity coach, Brian McLaughlin, wants Ireland to be more aggressive at the breakdown.
“We did a fair bit in training this week on trying to get the players to stay on their feet longer which is really important against these guys because if you go to ground too early, they’re in very sharp. They get two people over the ball very quickly.
“We want to get a bit more aggressive on the initial contact. The key thing we have to do is prevent them from poaching."
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