RUGBY: BRIAN O'DRISCOLL is set to win his 107th cap for Ireland this weekend against Argentina, and lead Ireland for the 70th time after returning to training yesterday afternoon.
Although it was a modified, non-contact session as the management seek to ease the load on the most bruising autumnal load any Irish team has ever undertaken – and you possibly couldn’t have hand-picked a more physical quartet of opponents back-to-back – O’Driscoll looks sure to face the Pumas for an eighth time.
Already resigned to being without Rob Kearney, Luke Fitzgerald and Rory Best, Ireland are also hopeful that Stephen Ferris (calf), David Wallace (Achilles), Gordon D’Arcy (calf) and Tommy Bowe (calf) will also be fit despite not training yesterday, with team manager Paul McNaughton expressing the belief that all of them will be “under consideration for selection”.
That said, that selection announcement has been moved back 48 hours to Friday.
With Rory Best sidelined for “six to eight weeks” and Luke Fitzgerald out for up to six weeks, Leinster were also bracing themselves for the latest news on Rob Kearney.
The fullback was “undergoing (knee) surgery as we speak” according to McLaughlin yesterday and could also be out for around six weeks, leaving Joe Schmidt to plan without both men for their Heineken Cup meetings with Clermont in December as well as several Magners League games.
More positive news concerned Tony Buckley, who has recovered quicker than expected from the hip injury he sustained against South Africa to rejoin the squad yesterday and train fully.
Significantly, John Hayes has been released back to Munster to obtain more game time, as has Connacht’s John Muldoon.
In addition to Buckley, Geordan Murphy, Leo Cullen and Damien Varley have joined the Irish squad, with Murphy likely to start at fullback.
It will be of particular relief that O’Driscoll is fit to play again. Finally given some attacking ball to run with last Saturday, his performance – highlighted by a 41st Test try for Ireland which was exceptional even by his standards – was yet another reminder of how talismanic a figure he remains.
Although there is an argument for looking at alternative options should, heaven forbid, the day come when Ireland have to play without him, not alone is he also a remarkable quick healer but as he admitted again last week, he hates to miss an opportunity to play for his country – which brought a knowing smile from Declan Kidney alongside him.
And with O’Driscoll in the team Ireland has a 63 per cent winning ratio, which ups to 65 per cent as captain, but that dips to 57 per cent in the 21 games he’s missed since his debut against Australia in 1999.
Quite why the attrition rate was so high against the All Blacks is a moot point, with McNaughton maintaining that it was largely “coincidental and unfortunate” although the high Irish tackle count (183) and intensity of successive Test matches were also factors.
McNaughton strongly intimated that three tests and an A match might be the extent of future November itineraries.
As McNaughton pointed out, Ireland will have to manage with a squad of 30 and without calling in nearby reinforcements from the provinces during the World Cup, although stressed that “needs must’ has also been beneficial in the provinces giving opportunities to other players while still obtaining good results.
The core of the Irish team this weekend is liable to be largely the same again. “It’s about winning the game,” said McNaughton, “and there will certainly be three new faces with injuries so that alone allows us to make changes but we have never beaten Argentina easily and we want to finish November off with a win. They are extremely difficult opponents as both Italy and France have seen to date.”
Nor will the Irish camp be surprised that neither game was especially pretty. They say familiarity breeds contempt and this is an 11th meeting in 11 years.
The rivalry was neatly summed up after the last clash two years ago – Ireland winning an arm wrestle by 17-3 to ensure a second tier seeding for the World Cup draw when Donnacha O’Callaghan stated simply “we don’t like them and they don’t like us”, but McNaughton sought to play that down when suggested that it may have ebbed a little.
“There’s been no talk about it this week. They’ve been dogged opposition for Ireland for several years now. (But) I don’t think there’s any personal animosity. I wasn’t around several years ago when there was maybe more talk about that.
“I think the guys are just focused on the game now and on the opposition, but on the opposition in a football sense rather than a personal sense.”
