Andy Farrell challenges players to make up for All Blacks disappointment against Argentina

Head coach Andy Farrell has made just one change to his starting XV for game against Argentina.

Andy Farrell has welcomed the chance to give his Ireland players the "perfect" opportunity to make amends for a 10-point defeat to New Zealand last time out by making minimal changes to his line-up for this Friday’s Autumn Nations Series clash with Argentina.

The Ireland head coach made just one alteration to the starting XV which failed to rise to the occasion of last Friday’s World Cup quarter-final rematch as they surrendered a 19-game home winning run at Aviva Stadium in a 23-13 loss to the All Blacks.

Robbie Henshaw has replaced Bundee Aki at inside centre for the visit of a Pumas side coached by former Leinster star and attack coach Felipe Contepomi, yet Farrell has also made four changes to his replacements, including handing potential debuts to Leinster duo Thomas Clarkson as tighthead cover for Finlay Bealham, and fly-half Sam Prendergast, who will be backing up Jack Crowley, who is retained at number 10.

The Ireland boss, who must once again plan without injured first-choice tighthead prop Tadhg Furlong has jettisoned four of last Friday’s replacements, including a new half-back combination, Prendergast coming onto the bench for Ciaran Frawley, Craig Casey replacing Test centurion and Munster team-mate Conor Murray as scrum-half cover for Jamison Gibson-Park.

Lock/flanker Ryan Baird comes in for Iain Henderson while Clarkson replaces the injured Tom O’Toole to join a run-on front row that also includes Rob Herring and loosehead Cian Healy, who will become Ireland’s joint-leading appearance maker alongside Brian O’Driscoll with his 133rd Test cap.

As for the starting line-up, Farrell said some of his XV were lucky to retain their places and he would have preferred to have made more changes.

“It’s never ideal, that’s the game. That’s the nature of the sport, it is what it is the whole time and we act accordingly,” he said before being asked specifically about Crowley.

“Jack, along with quite a few of our players, would have been hoping for better performance.

“Some of them are lucky enough to get another chance to do that, others are coming in and some of them played pretty well themselves, but there were too many people not right at their best last week and we’re hoping for everyone to improve, not just Jack.

"Obviously, the control of the game is something that Jack would be open and honest about of wanting to step up a little bit this weekend but we've certainly seen that in training this week."

Jack Crowley failed reach the heights against the All Blacks.

Farrell dialled up the pressure on his number 10 by lauding the readiness of 21-year-old Prendergast for Test rugby after just eight starts in 200 appearances for Leinster and a further three at number 10 for Emerging Ireland earlier this season.

“He’s ready. For a young fella that’s not had much game-time provincially, he’s obviously had more of late, but in an ironic way he’s probably been patient enough.

“Because, in his own mind he’d probably thought he’s been ready for quite some time because he’s that kind of kid, a confident kid.

“The experience that he’s got from being around the squad, he’s comfortable in his own skin.

“The reason for taking him on the Emerging tour was to make sure that he understood what it was to grab hold of his team and show that he is in charge.

“He showed that in abundance, we’ve seen the knock-on effect from that in the squad in the last couple of weeks.

“In his own mind he’s ready, he’s a young kid that’s in a pressurised type position obviously. He’s going to make his mistakes, but that’s the nature of anyone coming through.” Returning the overriding theme of his team announcement press conference at Energia Park on Wednesday, Farrell described the Argentina Test as “the best medicine to get back on the horse”.

“I’m sure there’s a bit of disappointment with a few of the lads who don’t get to do that, but they understand that it’s about the team, about the squad.

“This is the perfect game, because it’s very similar in as far as the quality of the opposition and where you want to be to draw out that performance from yourselves.” 

Farrell welcomed the additional pressure that last week’s under-par performance had brought on his team.

“Pressure’s good. It’s what concentrates the mind, you see where your character’s at. We want to win all our games but the opposition is always going to have a say in that. I think this is perfect because we’ve got another top, top-drawer opposition coming and we want to test ourselves because we feel like we let a few people down last week.”