31 Ireland debuts.
4 familiar faces.
5 newcomers.
Last season, Ireland stopped including the number of caps beside each players’ name when teams were announced. The caps are back this season and they highlight how inexperienced Ireland’s backline will be when they face off against Argentina.
Joe Schmidt named his Ireland XV to face Los Pumas at Carton House this afternoon and only four men remain from the team that lost a World Cup quarter final to the same team in 2015. Cian Healy, Rory Best and Iain Henderson were in the pack that day while Conor Murray was scrumhalf.
Of the Ireland team that were on the receiving end of a 43-20 beating, only Keith Earls, Jamie Heaslip and Robbie Henshaw are missing through injury. Everyone else is either retired or surplus to this weekend’s requirements. That is some turnover of players.
Schmidt walked away from the Millennium Stadium that day determined to add further depth to his squad. Ireland could not cope with the injuries and suspensions to key players and they paid the price.
Schmidt wants at least four players fighting it out for each position and up to speed with the tactics and requirements of the national team. Since that fateful day in Cardiff, Ireland have handed out caps to 31 players.
Five of those players – CJ Stander, James Ryan, Jacob Stockdale, Chris Farrell and Bundee Aki – are named in the Ireland team to start against Argentina on Saturday [5:30pm kick-off].
Joe Schmidt forced into one big change and two Leinster stars get their first starts https://t.co/JQk0LcjS7K
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) November 23, 2017
Schmidt said Henshaw was being spared from action this weekend due to some tightening in his hamstring. He could have featured ‘at a push’ but this window is not about taking gambles. Ireland want to turn Argentina over but risking a longer term injury to the Leinster centre would be inadvisable.
So Farrell is drafted in and, all of a sudden, the Irish backline looks a lot less daunting.
Conor Murray [58], Johnny Sexton [67] and Rob Kearney [77] are the familiar faces but, between Farrell, Byrne, Aki and Stockdale, the rest of the backline boasts 5 caps. Argentina will go hard at these international newbies and try to force mistakes.
Sitting two days out from the big game, Schmidt insists this is exactly the challenge he wants these new men to face. He commented:
“This window for us was really an opportunity for us to see how guys go in a pressure situations. Chris acquitted himself pretty well last week and he got better as the game went on, so it is another window of opportunity for him.”
Schmidt added, “With all the wingers we brought in, we wanted to see how they trained and how they fitted in. He’s given us the confidence to include him because he’s worked really hard. He’s picking up things all the time. With a bit of experience in that backline, around him, I’m really hopeful he gets a good first hit out at the weekend.”
The Ireland coach is well aware of the attacking potential Argentina possess but feels each of the players selected in his fresh-looking backline have merited their selections.
Schmidt is taking some risks with this Ireland team selection and he could yet be hammered for it [or sternly criticised and scolded, at least] if Argentina tear us apart out wide again. However, he has enough credit in the bank and is doing the right thing for the future development of this side.
The rewards of this bold team taking the field may not be fully realised until 2019 but, in the short term, any win will do.
Schmidt had a chance to leave Ireland earlier this year and take up a coaching role within the All Blacks set-up but he is not leaving until 2019 at the earliest. His motivation is getting Ireland beyond a World Cup quarter final. But he wants to win the whole tournament and the work has already begun.
