Starters against All Blacks may get chance to make amends in Argentina clash

Ireland faltered severely in key areas during the defeat to New Zealand.

Tue, 12 Nov, 2024 - 16:05

Simon Lewis

Andy Farrell’s response to last Friday’s 10-point defeat at home to the All Blacks will be revealed in selection terms on Wednesday with his matchday squad to face Argentina at Aviva Stadium this Friday night.

The head coach’s response to a seven-point loss in the first Test against South Africa last July was to drop captain Peter O’Mahony and Bundee Aki, two of his most established frontliners, for the series decider seven days later. Yet in the wake of the previous March’s narrow late defeat to England at Twickenham, Farrell named an unchanged XV for the following week’s Six Nations final round at home to Scotland.

Both produced victories but the manner of last Friday’s 23-13 setback to New Zealand was more of a head scratcher than those previous two most recent defeats, and the Ireland boss will have had a lot to ponder in the days that followed in terms of handling errors, a high penalty count and poor skills execution.

Having demanded his team get straight back on the horse in order to meet a testing Pumas challenge in this second game of the Autumn Nations Series campaign, Farrell wanted to see a reaction to an error-strewn performance well below Ireland’s impressive capabilities and Wednesday’s team announcement may well reflect just how satisfactory that reaction was from his players.

A misfiring lineout, a difficult evening at the scrum and getting on the wrong side of the referee at the breakdown will have exercised the Irish brains trust this week while in the cheap seats there have been concerns raised by last Friday’s bench make-up with dynamic lock/flanker Ryan Baird believed by popular consensus to be the unluckiest player to have missed out.

This Autumn Nations Series will not offer Farrell too many opportunities for wholesale changes, particularly given statement wins for upcoming opponents Fiji, over Wales in Cardiff, and Australia, against England at Twickenham but the Ireland head coach will not be afraid to keep tweaking his selections this month.

Yet as Farrell said in the wake of last weekend’s defeat, his team has not become a bad one overnight, suggesting that those that started will be given the opportunity to make amends seven days on.

A head injury to replacement tighthead Tom O’Toole will necessitate at least one change to a bench criticised in some quarters as being over the hill, though Cian Healy’s appears set to hang on to the number 17 jersey and thereby equal Brian O’Driscoll’s milestone of 132 Ireland caps and join the former centre as his country’s record appearance maker.

The return to fitness of Tadhg Furlong from a hamstring injury will alleviate the pressure on the tighthead side with Finlay Bealham likely to return to the replacements, though the uncapped Thomas Clarkson may be poised for a Test debut off the bench should the first-choice number three not pass muster for Friday night.