Senillosa: Ireland will test us

Argentina inside centre Hernan Senillosa expects tomorrow’s clash with Ireland to be another tight contest.

The Pumas produced a spirited performance to defeat the Irish 22-20 in Santa Fe last weekend.

Senillosa, who scored Argentina’s only try in that game, was initially dropped from the 22-man squad.

However, head coach Marcelo Loffreda retained his services because Biarritz trio Marcelo Bosch, Manuel Carizza and Martin Gaitan had to return to France due to domestic club commitments in the Top 14 semi-finals.

Senillosa is delighted to still be in the squad and is predicting another difficult game against Ireland.

“It will be a very physical, tough game like last Saturday’s was I think,” he said.

“Perhaps it will be a bit tougher than the first Test, as we’ve been talking about this and will try to play better.”

Loffreda believes Argentina and Ireland have always played “very interesting” Tests because the teams are similar.

“Despite coming from from two very different places, with two very different backgrounds, we are quite similar to each other,” he said.

Despite the victory in Santa Fe, Loffreda is also hoping the Pumas produce a better performance in Buenos Aires.

“We have to improve contact and settle our strategy well from the first minute,” he continued.

The World Cup is getting closer and closer for the Pumas and Ireland, who have both been drawn in Group D alongside France, Namibia and Georgia.

Felipe Contepomi, who scored the winning injury-time drop-goal against the Irish side last Saturday, has returned to Ireland to graduate in medicine so Martin Durand will captain the team for the first time.

And the 31-year-old is delighted to have been given the armband.

“I really did not expect it,” said Durand, who will win his 48th cap against Ireland.

“It’s an honour to have the chance to fill the role of captain in the squad.”

Glasgow Warriors winger Francisco Leonelli agrees with Loffreda’s decision to make Durand captain.

“Martin has done his job very well and is a natural leader,” he said.

“Martin is one of the most experienced and most respected players in the squad, so we must do our best to profit from having him on the pitch.”

Leonelli believes the Pumas showed some weaknesses despite last weekend’s victory over Ireland.

“We’ve identified some areas where we are weak and we have to improve on those,” he added.

“However, we know that we can find ways to hurt Ireland too.”

With Contepomi out of the side, Montpellier’s Federico Todeschini comes into the team.

“We’ve worked a lot on our defence and that has now become one of our strong points,” he said.