Requiring a end result to get their autumn again on observe, Argentina are hardly excellent opponents.
Whereas final Friday’s defeat noticed Eire overwhelmed by the facet who have gotten the higher of them prior to now two World Cup quarter-finals, this weekend brings them head-to-head with essentially the most frequent thorn of their facet at these international showpieces.
Los Pumas have knocked Eire out of three World Cups, in 1999, 2007 and 2015, though the latest of these successes is their solely win from the previous 9 conferences between the pair.
On their final go to to Dublin three years in the past, they had been overwhelmed 53-7 when, in distinction to this week, Eire had been coming in buoyed by a memorable victory over the All Blacks.
Whereas the core of the Irish crew and employees stays the identical, Argentina have had two totally different head coaches since then. Mario Ledesma was adopted by Michael Cheika for final 12 months’s World Cup with the now Leicester Tigers coach handing over to Felipe Contepomi after the semi-final exit in France.
The previous fly-half, who preceded Johnny Sexton within the Leinster 10 jersey, labored with loads of Eire’s matchday 23 throughout his spell because the province’s assistant coach between 2018 and 2022, and has masterminded some spectacular ends in his quick time on the helm of his nation.
Led by the likes of Saracens’ Juan Martin Gonzalez and Juan Cruz Mallia of Toulouse, his Argentina facet beat South Africa, Australia and New Zealand through the Rugby Championship this 12 months and break up a July collection with France, whereas growing an attacking model of rugby.
