Ireland got a little more than they bargained for against the Pumas last week, and should face much the same in Tucuman on Saturday. Though the visitors got the win, Argentina were always in the match and had their set piece been more accurate it would have been a very close game. Tucuman has a proud rugby history and should be out in force to enjoy the match, with the Pumas keen to redeem themselves after losing badly to France in their last outing there two years ago.
Daniel Hourcade has stayed faithful to the majority of his squad, with only two changes, one enforced, to the team that played last week. Influential no8 Benjamín Macome suffered a fractured arm late in the match and is replaced by Antonio Ahualli, while Santiago Cordero has been dropped in favour of Lucas González Amorosino. Matías Orlando is called into the reserves, where front rowers Santiago Iglesias and Matías Diaz take the places of Julián Montoya and Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro respectively.
Joe Schmidt has strengthened his pack by including Devin Toner and Jamie Heaslip in the run-on side, while Rhys Ruddock replaces Robbie Diack on the flank and David Kilcoyne comes in at loosehead for Jack McGrath. Eoin Reddan gets a run at scrumhalf, Rob Kearney returns at fullback, and Fergus McFadden gets a rare start at centre replacing Luke Marshall. The uncapped trio of Rob Herring, James Cronin, and Noel Reid wear the senior green jersey for the first time among the reserves.
The Irish won’t want to change too much. They’ll need to tighthen up on defense a little bit and maintain their high standards in the set pieces. The rolling maul worked well in Resistencia and they’ll look to that again in Tucuman. Argentina will have been hitting the scrum machine all week after an unusually poor day at the office. They might try a more tactical approach this time, but much will depend on the success of their set pieces.
If the Pumas can get parity in the tight, there’s a real chance they could sneak one over on the hosts. Ireland will have enjoyed the week but now have to pitch up against Tomás Lavanini and Manuel Montero once again. They have enough experience to take the second test as well, but it won’t be easy going. Take Ireland by a similar score to last week, around 10 points.
ARGENTINA vs IRELAND
Saturday, June 14, 18:40 GMT, Tucuman
Referee: Pascal Gauzere (FFR)
Assistants: Glen Jackson (NZRU) & Lourens van der Merwe (SARU)
TMO: Shaun Veldsman (SARU)
