Powerful Pumas will test resolve

THE end is near, but will tomorrow’s game against Argentina mark a fresh dawn for Ireland?

With the finishing line to this autumn international series at the Aviva Stadium in sight and an extremely mixed bag of results and performances over the past three weekends already banked, a victory over the Pumas, Ireland’s most dogged rivals of recent years, is vital if Declan Kidney and his squad are to head into 2011 with vigour, purpose and optimism for next year’s Six Nations and World Cup.

After the sorry defeat to South Africa and the laboured win over Samoa, the mood has lightened this week following last Saturday’s heartening, albeit losing, performance against New Zealand. Losing to an All Blacks side that will start next September’s World Cup on home soil as red-hot favourites was no disgrace and Ireland’s attempt to play a more expansive game against them was a sign that Kidney’s blueprint is progressing.