Pumas will arrive hungry for revenge

Recent history has taught Ireland when the Pumas come into view, any notions of grandeur can be dispelled.

Beating the Tri-Nations champions was all well and good, but as the Argentinians reminded the rugby world yet again by dint of their deserved 24-14 win over France in Marseille last Saturday, they are a special case. And when they take to the Lansdowne Road pitch for the third time in a little over five years (and sixth meeting with Ireland in that time) on Saturday, it will be the Pumas who'll have a whiff of vengeance in their nostrils.

A proud collection of Argentinian players, Los Pumas thrive on the perceived bias of the rugby community, fostering an us-against-the-world mentality which would have been reinforced by the events of last year's World Cup. No less than the itinerary which was foisted on Italy and Tonga, it was a blight on the tournament Argentina had to play all four pool games inside a 14-day period, completing their programme before England started their third match.

The bitter sense of injustice was only reinforced by a horrendous trip home, after which their brilliant scrumhalf Agustin Pichot commented bitterly that the tournament organisers had got the quarter-final line-up they wanted. Ireland, as their 16-15 conquerors in that pivotal pool game in the Adelaide Oval, would also be seen as one of those elite eight.

That World Cup marked an end of an era for Los Pumas and if their coach Marcelo Loffreda, who signed a new two-year contract after the World Cup, sticks with the same line-up which beat France as few as four of the starting XV which took the field in Adelaide last October will renew rivalry with Ireland next Saturday.

With Diego Albanese retired, Gonzalo Quesada no longer required, and the vastly experienced Lisandro Arbizu, the outstanding Ignacio Corleto, winger Juose Nunez Piossek, centre Jose Orengo, the promising Martin Gaitan and the lock Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe all ruled out by injury, the Pumas' back line had a newish, remodelled look outside the familiar old Bristol half-back pairing of Pichot and Felipe Contepomi.

The gifted 22-year-old Stade Francais full back Juan Martin Hernandez, who has missed much of this season through injury, represents the future generation of Argentinian back play with the likes of Lucas Borges, and the 24-year-old Biarritz centre Federico Martin Aramburu. However, in truth, little was seen of them offensively at the Stade Velodrome as the Pumas went back to their trusted forward-oriented game.

The veteran props Mauricio Reggiardo and Roberto Grau (both suspended after the Adelaide game for eye gouging) and veteran flanker Rolando Martin have retired as well. Martin and Fernandez Lobbe, like Albanese and Corleto, all played in the previous five clashes against Ireland, yet the pack also had a familiar look to it.

The hard-running Gonzalo Longo is a veteran of the previous four matches against Ireland, while his fellow back-rowers Lucas Ostiglia, Martin Durand, lock Rimas Alvarez, tighthead Omar Hasan and hooker Mario Ledesma are all familiar foes as well. Indeed, all of them have played in Lansdowne Road before. More to the point in Marseille last Saturday, they were especially cognisant of the home side's strengths and weaknesses, individually and collectively, and this perhaps helped them to smooth over the rustiness caused by not being together since last summer until the week of the match.

All told, 11 of their starting XV ply their trade in French club rugby, including seven of the pack. A prime example was the Stade Francais loosehead prop Rodrigo Roncero, who was scrummaging against his clubmate Sylvain Marconnet.

After their dominance of the Australian pack the week before, the French front five struggled in set-pieces. In a capricious wind, they did manage to pilfer six of the Pumas' 17 throws, but coughed up five of their own 15. More to the point, most of the ball they won was scrappy.

What driving mauls there were mostly came from the Pumas, who also disrupted the French scrum, and, as when they were eclipsed at Twickenham and in the World Cup semi-final by England, the thing about the Serge Betsen, Imanol Harinordoquy-Olivier Magne back row is that - while brilliant going forward - they're not well equipped to cope when their team is on the back foot. The 24th-minute try by Durand came from a pressurised and badly controlled French put-in five metres from their own posts.

Contepomi, who ironically looked every inch a Test outhalf given he has been usurped in that position at Leinster by David Holwell, converted and tagged on two long-range penalties after two earlier ones (he missed only one and a later touchline conversion into the wind). This earned a 19-5 interval lead after France had given the Pumas first use of the wind.

For all their talk of a more expansive style on this tour, the Pumas again showed they know how to win ugly. France raised a bit of a gallop in the second half, but in time-honoured fashion, Argentina hardly moved a ball beyond a 10-metre radius as Pichot showed what a master he is at attacking the blindside. The front-rowers, Roncero, Ledesma and Hasan, along with Longo and co, carried the ball ad nauseum. Argentina's 54 per cent haul of possession into the stiff wind in the second half says it all and the sequence of forward drives which culminated in Hasan's late try was fitting finale.

To a degree, it may have been something of a one-off match. Les Bleus often struggle mentally against Latin opposition, this being their fourth defeat in a row to Los Pumas, and perhaps they suffered a reaction to their first win over the Wallabies in 11 years the week before.

Nevertheless, among other things, O'Sullivan and Ireland would welcome that rarity in Lansdowne Road next Saturday, a calm, dry day.

gthornley@irish-times.ie