That’s what we want to see.
Ireland won’t be hungry for this one. They’ll be bloody starving. Argentina knocked us on our arses in the 2015 World Cup.
We haven’t met the South Americans since that crushing 23 point battering at the Principality Stadium. It hurt so much because that was supposed to be our time to finally make a mark on the Rugby World Cup.
We had as good a team as we’d ever had. It was the quarter-final stages, we were favourites. Make the last four and anything could have happened.
That’s enough. We lost. The speed of their back-line ripped us to shreds. Their hungrier forwards served us on a plate at the breakdown.
In 2017, Ireland are a better side. An ageing Puma outfit look worse than they were back then.
They lost seven of their last eight International games. Their victory last weekend over Italy in Florence ended a rotten sequence of results for Daniel Hourcade’s men, which included a 21-8 loss to England.
It’s no wonder we’re 1/8 favourites with most bookies for Saturday’s 5:30 clash in the Aviva. But Joe Schmidt isn’t taking it for granted. Ireland aren’t taking it for granted.
We’ve won the first two of our November Internationals. A comprehensive win here will round off a positive series.
Ireland have a host of young players determined to make a case for themselves. According to Iain Henderson, who was speaking at the Ireland Press Conference on Thursday, this determination boiled over during training.
“A couple of young guys from the Leinster academy, they were riling guys up, and a few boys rose and reacted. There was a couple of kiss and make-ups in the huddle afterwards. I think all is good with them now,” said the Ulster man.
Spikey Ireland training session today. Good prep for weekend… pic.twitter.com/00b69lHCfc
— Sinéad Kissane (@sineadkissane) November 23, 2017
Video credit: Sinead Kissane.
This is exactly what Joe Schmidt will want to see in his young players. He’ll want to see them standing up for themselves, showing that they have that aggression and passion to cut it at the top level.
It’ll be no harm for the senior squad members, either, keeping them on their toes.
Shame about Robbie Henshaw https://t.co/P9SNxSCKPp
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) November 23, 2017
Ireland have a host of young up and coming talent in loads of positions. There are backs like Darren Sweetnam and Jacob Stockdale. There’s forwards like James Ryan and Jack Conan.
This is their time and they’re going to damn well make sure it is.
