Ireland get physical for Pumas clash
Ireland coach Eddie O’Sullivan opted unashamedly for physical power ahead of guile in his back row, while also giving David Humphreys the nod at fly-half when he named his team to play Argentina in Adelaide on Sunday.
The power approach means Alan Quinlan makes a rare appearance at openside flanker, while Victor Costello plays at number eight and Simon Easterby at blindside flanker.
O’Sullivan admitted he was following a ’horses-for-courses’ approach, which meant no place in the match-day 22 for Keith Gleeson, while Eric Miller is on the bench.
“The kind of game we’re playing against Argentina is a pretty physical, close-quarter encounter, which it always is, so we’ve gone for some physicality and bulk in the back row,” O’Sullivan said after the team was announced.
“It’s a reflection of the team we’re playing and the type of game we need to play,” he said.
The other difficult decision he had to make – and always has to make – was between Ronan O’Gara and Humphreys, particularly as O’Gara distinguished himself in the 64-7 win over Namibia on Sunday.
“There was a huge amount of debate about that,” said O’Sullivan of the ongoing battle between the two men for the number 10 jersey.
“At the moment David is in the driving seat, just by the skin of his teeth really, but over the two games it could have gone either way.” The tight five remains in place from the win over Namibia, with captain and hooker Keith Wood propped by Munster team-mate John Hayes on the tighthead and Leinster’s Reggie Corrigan on the loosehead.
Paul O’Connell keeps the number five jersey, having escaped censure after scrutiny from a citing commissioner of an incident against Namibia, and he will lock the Irish scrum with Malcolm O’Kelly.
The backline retains its familiar form, with Brian O’Driscoll and Kevin Maggs in the centres, Denis Hickie and Shane Horgan on the wings and Girvan Dempsey at full-back, while Peter Stringer starts at scrum-half.
Ireland: G Dempsey (Leinster); S Horgan (Leinster), B O’Driscoll (Leinster), K Maggs (Bath), D Hickie (Leinster); D Humphreys (Ulster), P Stringer (Munster); R Corrigan (Leinster), K Wood (Munster), J Hayes (Munster), M O’Kelly (Leinster), P O’Connell (Munster), S Easterby (Llanelli), A Quinlan (Munster), V Costello (Leinster).
Replacements: S Byrne (Leinster), M Horan (Munster), D O’Callaghan (Munster), E Miller (Leinster), G Easterby (Rotherham), R O’Gara (Munster), J Kelly (Munster).
