What difference one game makes. Now, with a few crucial injuries to Paul O’Connell, Peter O’Mahony and the suspension of Sean O’Brien this Irish team could be left licking their wounds with another Quarter Final exit.
The Irish are also sweating on the fitness of Fly half Johnathan Sexton and Utility back Keith Earls. Even with Ireland losing these key players Joe Schmidt has developed a pool of talent for Ireland to choose from.
Rhys Ruddock has been called into the squad to replace O’Mahony, even with only 5 tests under his belt the 24 year old still has a lot of experience having already accumulated over 90 caps for Leinster. He understands the way Schmidt works and will fit straight into the Irish set up.
The Pumas they have cruised through to the Quarter finals since their first weekend defeat to New Zealand back on the 20th of September. They gave the All Blacks a scare that day but did not have the depth on the bench to hold on in the last 20 minutes. With comfortable wins over Georgia, Tonga and Namibia my concern if I was a Puma fan would be that they have not had a tough test in a few weeks compared to Ireland who have been working their way past tougher teams each week. Ireland really showed their depth against France last weekend when they completely dominated in the second half.
So here are the key match ups. (Guessed before the sides are selected)
Schmidt vs Argentina
Just about everyone in World Rugby is trying to work this guy out. He has the Midas Touch in the Rugby World.
The Kiwi born super planner has been able to strategically plan the greatest turn around in International Rugby, after taking over a struggling Irish side in 2013 Schmidt has orchestrated the greatest turnaround of the professional era with Ireland having won back to back six nations championships in 2014 and 2015. If I have learnt anything about Schmidt as a coach it’s that he would have a game plan organised for this game before the tournament that can cope with the loss of any player(s) in the squad.
Ian Henderson vs Tomas Lavanini
If you have not heard of Ian Henderson yet I don’t know what World Cup you have been watching. Henderson has been the biggest stand out in the World Cup so far from Ireland and at 6’6 and 115kg its not hard. MOTM against Italy and had a massive impact when he replaced O’Connell at half time last weekend. He’s a big strong ball runner, has carried over the gain line 18 times this World Cup and is also a work horse in defence with 34 tackles and 4 turnovers.
For the Pumas Lavanini has a massive job on his hands to contain the hungry Henderson and will have to be on his game in defense to contain him. Lavanini has been solid in attack and I expect he will be looking at the Irish line out as a weakness. I would expect Lavanini and Argentina to try gain advantage early on to gain crucial territory. The battle at line out time is going to one of the biggest factors in this match.
Robbie Henshaw vs Juan Martin Hernandez
The Young vs The Old. Henshaw was one of the stand outs last weekend against France and expect Hernandez to have trouble containing the young Connacht center. Henshaw may have only played two games at this World Cup, but with 90 Carry meters and 20 tackles he has made an impact already. With Argentina swapping and changing a lot this tournament and Bosch being suspended I expect to see Hernandez return to the centres. The Puma centre has been solid without setting the World a light.
Head to Head
Ireland has won their last 5 against Argentina, the last lose to the Puma’s was during the group stage of the 2007 RWC.
Overall – Played 15, Ireland 10, Argentina 5, Draw 0
RWC – Played 3, Ireland 1, Argentina 2, Draw 0
Overall
With the Injuries to Ireland this is set to be a cracker of a match; you can never write off Argentina but I think Ireland’s depth will still prevail (yes, this is Biased towards Ireland, but tough luck). Anything less than the Semi Final for Ireland is set as a failure at this World Cup.
I’m going to tip Ireland with their defense holding the upper hand, having only conceded two tries in the entire group stage, I think Argentina will find it hard to break through and get enough points on the board to win the game.
The main advantage this weekend is going to be the 16th Man for this one – expect Cardiff to be a Sea of Green for the weekend. Oh and just in case you’re deciding on a weekend in Cardiff the average price of a Hotel Room is a whopping $2500 for Saturday night.
Ireland by 11
