Ireland urged not to rest on their laurels
Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll believes Saturday’s game against Argentina holds as much importance for his team as this month’s victory over world champions Australia.
The stand-in skipper led his side to a famous 18-9 victory over the Wallabies 11 days ago that increased Ireland’s standing in world rugby immeasurably.
That was followed by a nine-try romp against Fiji last Sunday, but yesterday O’Driscoll claimed losing to the Pumas this weekend would send the Irish back to square one.
He said: “It’s nice knowing that we have two international wins under our belt but, having said that, it wouldn’t be a nice feeling coming away from the weekend having lost.
“Our total and utter focus has gone into winning this and if we did win it would mean we’ve had a very successful November.
“Beating Australia was massive for us as a team, it gave the crowd a great day and gave them an inkling of what it could potentially be like. I think they want more days like that as much as we do, so long may it last.
“But it would be something hanging over us if we didn’t win it. It would probably undo a lot of the good work we’ve done in beating Australia and Fiji.
“We have to put ourselves under a bit of pressure. We’re playing in Lansdowne Road and we’re looking forward to it, but we know it’s going to be really, really hard.”
Ireland have lost twice to Argentina in recent years, most painfully in 1999 when the Pumas upset the odds and knocked the men in green out of the World Cup on neutral territory in Lens.
O’Driscoll has watched and admired their progress since and is wary of the threat posed by their half-back pairing, Bristol’s Agustin Pichot and Felipe Contepomi.
He added: “They were a strong side back then and they’ve taken the nucleus of that team and moved forward, onwards and upwards.
“They still have an awful lot of that team in the squad. They still have Pichot, arguably one of the best scrum-halves in the world, and Contepomi on his day can be a match winner.
“So in key roles they have key players. If you put those two in any side it’s going to make them a formidable outfit.
“Contepomi has a good range of passing and he can get his back-line moving. I heard Eddie O’Sullivan say they were probably one of the best counter-attacking sides in the world and I’d certainly back that up.
“They’re very strong and any turnover ball you have to be careful otherwise you’ll find yourself 70 metres down the pitch having been on their line.
“They’ve improved hugely in all facets of their play and we’re going to have to watch them throughout.”
