Paulie wants Ireland to hit the ground running

Ireland skipper Paul O’Connell says there is no danger of them sitting on their laurels after the Six Nations triumph and that plenty of areas have been identified for improvement.

And he expects that improvement to start on the two-match tour of Argentina when several players will get the opportunity to stake a claim for a place.

The Irish squad landed in Buenos Aires yesterday morning after two player withdrawals and the shock announcement that forwards coach John Plumtree is to return to New Zealand after this tour.

O’Connell said he was surprised and disappointed when Plumtree made his announcement prior to departure on Sunday.

“He spoke briefly, he spoke from the heart I suppose. For him, I wouldn’t say it’s a no-brainer but to be away from home for as long as he had, I think it’s 20-odd years out of New Zealand. He has this chance to go home and be three hours away from where his parents are. I think he said his dad has never actually met his youngest son which I didn’t know and it put the whole decision into perspective for him really.”

The Irish squad went for a light training session in the warm and humid conditions yesterday afternoon and preparation will step up several gears today when they train at the Buenos Aires Hurling Club.

O’Connell, who is making his first trip to Argentina, said it important that they hit the ground running on this tour as there is so little time to prepare.

“It is a strange. Normally when you have a 13-hour flight like that you’d have a minimum of 10 to 12 days to get yourself right for it.

To have a 24-hour camp and then to come over here and then to be into a Test week after no prep together last week is a strange situation but I just think there is big demands made of us as players to be as ready as we can.

“We’re probably expected to be further down the track than we normally would be, we’ve only come together for a 24 hour period.

It’s funny when that onus is put on players to get ready, they respond. We’re lucky to fly over business class and there were seven or eight laptops flying around.

“Joe said the other day, there’s four 40 minute windows for everyone, for some guys it might be only 20 minutes and that’s your shot.

There’s a real atmosphere around the tour that guys want to give it 100%. You could see on the plane, with guys with laptops looking at footage and it’s great to see that enthusiasm,” said O’Connell.

The players availed of special oxygen compression masks on the flight which lessen the impact of long-haul flights.

O’Connell said that they hope to achieve a lot on this short tour and that several areas had been identified after the Six Nations triumph where improvement could be made.

“We’re in a good place and we’re in a place where there is still a lot of room for improvement.

“When we review a lot of what we did in the Six Nations with Joe which we did in our little two-day camp, there is still a lot of room for improvement particularly when you look at our performance against England. They’re a good side and a side who are only going to get better, so we’ll have to get better too because there are a lot of things we would have done differently and executed differently,” he added.