Pumas' mix of familiar and new

Argentina name team: Like their hosts, Argentina renew old acquaintances with Ireland this Saturday at Lansdowne Road on the back of a famous win.

Similarly, their coach Marcelo Loffreda has retained the same starting line-up which consigned France to their first defeat of 2004 in Marseilles last Saturday.

Only five of this starting XV lined up for the kick-off 13 months ago when the sides last met in that pivotal World Cup pool match at the Adelaide Oval which Ireland won 16-15, yet there is still a familiar and relatively experienced look to these Pumas.

None of the four outside backs have faced Ireland before, namely the talented Stade Francais full-back Juan Martin Hernandez, wingers Lucas Borges and Hernan Senillosa, and the Biarritz outside centre Federico Martin Aramburu. But the only other players who fall into that category are loose-head Rodrigo Roncero, also with Stade, and lock Patricio Albacete.

Inside centre Manuel Contepomi is one of those who started in Adelaide and also played at Lansdowne Road in 1999. There remains an experienced spine to the team, from the brilliant Castres hooker Mario Ledesma, through the Perpignan lock Rimas Alvarez and number eight Gonzalo Longo - who will be making his fifth consecutive start against Ireland - and the one-time Bristol half-back pairing of Agustin Pichot and Felipe Contepomi, who have taken part in all five previous match-ups against Ireland dating back to August 1999.

"We have some other new players and our idea was to give them a chance to show themselves but we thought it was correct to respect the same team that played against France," commented their coach Marcelo Loffreda yesterday, after bringing forward their team announcement by 24 hours.

He could hardly do otherwise after their relatively convincing 24-14 win in the Stade Velodrome against the reigning Grand Slam champions of Europe. "We were quite satisfied," he said with understatement of that victory. I think it was a great victory. We controlled big parts of the game and carried out our intentions for the game."

However, he is clearly keen to draw a line under it, adding: "But now the challenge is to keep the same concentration because when you make a good performance then you can go down mentally. It is now very important to keep on going up in our mind. That will be the biggest challenge of the team this week."

Mindful of a let-down after scaling significant heights the week before, Loffreda need only cite the example of France themselves against Argentina after their win over Australia seven days previously, which prompted Eddie Jones to declare Les Bleus to be the best team in the world. "Maybe Eddie was one of our best players," smiled Loffreda. "The human mind is really difficult to understand sometimes and it can play tricks on you."

All told nine of them have played at Lansdowne Road, whereas only Percy Montgomery and John Smit had done so previously when the Springboks were here a fortnight ago, a factor which - in tandem with Jake White's pre-match offerings - may have contributed to an element of over-confidence on the day.

In contrast, while the Pumas will be buoyed by their win in the Stade Velodrome last Saturday, recent history (including two defeats in Dublin) will have ensured against any over-confidence, and Loffreda agreed that his team's relative experience of playing Lansdowne Road is helpful.

"That is an advantage because we know that playing at Lansdowne Road is quite hard. The crowd is always large and it is a big challenge for your mental strength, not only because of the Irish team but also because of the crowd. So they (his players) must be quiet and calm, with a lot of confidence. And we will try to give that to our team in the two or three days before the game."

Ironically, on Saturday Felipe Contepomi will be making his first appearance of this season at Lansdowne Road, and will also have played at outhalf more for his country than for his paymasters at Leinster, where he has worn the number 10 jersey only once this season - in the Celtic League defeat away to the Dragons.

Loffreda is surprised that Contepomi is not holding down the Leinster outhalf slot but maintains that this is not a problem. "We practise with Felipe in a certain way and he has responded really well. Maybe he has not to be so, how you say, direct and look for the confrontation.

"Because sometimes he goes into contact, and he has to be more patient and more open-minded. I just want him to be a playmaker, always a playmaker, not sometimes."

Loffreda would give anything for the control over his leading players which Eddie O'Sullivan has, although with no professional structure domestically, Argentina have the next best thing as 11 of their side are based in France, and one each in Ireland and Italy.