Under-21 World Cup: Ireland v Argentina, Vichy, 2pm Ireland's under-21s will have to upset the formbook and lower the colours of Argentina in Vichy this afternoon if they are to meet either England or Wales in Sunday's World Cup fifth-place play-off game in Cournon.
A bonus-point victory over Georgia in Issoire on Saturday afternoon and England's unexpected landslide success over Scotland in Riom helped coach Mark McDermott's side squeeze into the 5th-8th play-off places.
But now, after all that has been asked of them in the opening two weeks here in the Auvergne heat, Ireland must summon up another gargantuan effort if they are to have any chance of finishing significantly higher than last year's ninth place in Argentina.
On the evidence of last week's game against the same opposition, in Cournon, Ireland have the know-how and spirit to put one over on the fifth-ranked Pumas. But a repeat of the mistakes made at Stade du Couturier last time around will, undoubtedly, bring about a similar result.
The Pumas have shown precious little flair in the competition, yet their ability to seize on errors and transform potentially open contests into dour forward battles has brought them two victories and a narrow defeat, to South Africa.
"They have a strong front five and some very good backrow players. Having said that, we had some success in that area against them last week and would hope to do so again," said McDermott.
"My biggest disappointment has been the number of chances we have missed, especially in the first game against them. I felt the game could have been over by half-time had we have taken at least one or two of those opportunities.
"Unfortunately we failed to add to our 10-point lead and allowed them back into the contest. You can't give up chances like that and expect to win games at this level.
"Having said that, we were encouraged by the way we took the game to them. To be honest, this set of forwards is unrecognisable from the pack we had in the Six Nations. At that stage we were content to be bullied by packs and that wasn't acceptable. We are certainly not putting up with it out here and I am delighted with that."
McDermott has made nine changes from the side that beat Georgia at the weekend, an entire front row coming in and openside flanker David Pollock taking over as captain.
Behind the scrum there are new halfbacks in Matt D'Arcy and Kieran Hallett, while Tom Gleeson returns to partner Fergus McFadden at centre.
Meanwhile, Paul Doran Jones, who was taken off on a stretcher on Saturday after an accidental clash, is back home in Ireland.
And team manager Niall O'Shea said the young tighthead was fortunate not to have suffered even greater injury.
"He had some swelling on the brain and has been told to rest completely for four weeks. He told me he was disappointed to have to go home but he should be grateful that he hasn't suffered any greater problems."
IRELAND: F Carr; I Hanly, T Gleeson, F McFadden, M Williams; K Hallett, M D'Arcy; D Hurley, S Cronin, D Ryan; D McGowan, D Toner; M Essex, D Pollock (capt), S O'Brien. Replacements: S Philpott, C Black, D Touhy, D Laffan, D Williams, J Sexton, D Cave.
