‘You’ve got to earn the right to go around Argentina’

JAMIE HEASLIP has been through a fair share of physical battles during his 30-match Irish international rugby career, but he can’t remember any as tough as Argentina, who play at the Aviva Stadium on Sunday and renew what many would describe as hostilities rather than rivalries.

Heaslip has no particular axe to grind other than to want this game put to bed with a solid victory behind him and the team. But he knows better than those who figure it might be easy.

“The thing about playing Argentina is that they close down a lot of your space, so the ability to go side to side or throw it about isn’t there as much as you’d want it to be in a game.