Pivotal force swings towards home

Ireland v Argentina, Felipe Contepomi interview: It represents a typical sporting conundrum. Friendships forged must be shelved as team-mates become opponents for an afternoon.

On Saturday, Felipe Contepomi of Leinster will become Argentina's pivot as Los Pumas confront Ireland in a Test match at Lansdowne Road.

Contepomi has no qualms about facing several of the players with whom he shares a workplace on a daily basis. This is after all professional sport and there is no room for sentiment. There is also the not inconsequential matter of national pride.

The affable College of Surgeons student is currently resident in Ireland on a four-year contract with Leinster and factored into the equation are his medical studies, which he will endeavour to complete in that timespan.

He smiles when he considers the implications of Saturday's game from a personal perspective.

"It's strange to play against so many team-mates," he admits. "I have played before against team-mates, when I was in Bristol but not so many (in one go).

"I have been playing for a long time with many of the Argentinian players and when it is your country, it's important. It's the team I belong to at the moment and I have to be 100 per cent committed."

He confirmed he received congratulatory text messages from his Leinster team-mates after Argentina's superb victory against France in Marseille at the weekend.

This weekend will not be completely new to him as he played in the centre against Ireland in the World Cup Finals pool match in Australia last year. The subtle difference this time is that although registered with Leinster at that time last year he had not played a game for them.

He concedes he is a chief source for his country's pre-match analysis of Ireland, given his familiarity with many of Eddie O'Sullivan's players but is adamant Argentina will focus on the whole entity rather than singling out too many individuals within Saturday's opposition.

"We do our analysis but don't have the technology of some of the bigger countries," he says. "We try to do our best with the technology we have. You obviously have to cater for some players in particular but the problem with Ireland is that they have so many good individual players and that is quite apart from them being a good team.

"You have to have an eye on too many players so it's probably easier to focus on the team as a whole. (Brian) O'Driscoll has his name, (Denis) Hickie too. Shane Horgan can win a game on his own. We should look at the entire team maybe. Ireland is a good team with a lot of potential and power in the individual players."

Contepomi admits to having mixed feelings about the absence of another Leinster team-mate on Saturday; professionally pleased, personally a little sad.

"I'm glad that Gordon D'Arcy is not playing because of things I know he can do on the pitch. He's one of those players that you don't see very often.

"You feel delighted when you see him play or when you play with him but not against him. I'm not delighted that he's not playing in the sense that he's a very hard worker and I would like to see him playing every single game.

"He's been very unlucky with the last couple of injuries he's had. But from an Argentinian point of view, it's a good thing you don't have him in the team."

If anything Argentina are even more hamstrung by injury, as Contepomi points out by reeling off a list of absentees but this simply serves to further underline their achievement in beating France.

"We were a bit surprised but we had worked hard in the week leading up to it. It's a young team so you're never quite sure. Things went our way and we were really delighted with the result. It's just one game and we are happy that we played better than they did."

The victory in Marseille was underpinned by the performance of the Argentinian pack but Contepomi rails against the assertion they are forsaking a more expansive approach.

"We had to play the conditions and sometimes Test rugby is about that; you have to be a little smart in the way you approach the game."

He declared "I'm a rugby fan," and wants a decent day, weather-wise, for Saturday's encounter, adding, "I like dynamic games. Ireland have shown that they have a dynamic wide game while we in Argentina are trying to improve and add some things to our pack."

Saturday's combatants have become linked not only by recent World Cup history but also by the frequency of Test competition, as Ireland have taken the place of France (in the 1980s and '90s) as Argentina's most regular opponents.

The legacy of their last competitive encounter in Australia has not been forgotten. "From an Argentinian point of view we remember that Ireland were the team that left us without anything in the World Cup. It was quite frustrating that day, (losing) by just by a single point."

Contepomi has obviously assimilated one Irish trait, evident when he ventured: " Ireland is a very structured team with nearly no weaknesses. It (the match) will be difficult and we have to concentrate and do something similar to what we achieved in Marseille in terms of focus and desire.

"Otherwise it will be very difficult as Ireland are one of the best teams around at the moment."

Anyone for the underdog?