RUGBY:THE COLOURFUL brushstrokes of Ireland's back play captivated Andrew Trimble as he watched the New Zealand game from the stands last Saturday. His hopes for November's final Test match against Argentina on Sunday are two-fold; that he is selected to play by coach Declan Kidney and that Ireland rekindle the same ambitious patterns as displayed against the All Blacks.
Injuries to Luke Fitzgerald and Rob Kearney may see him realise the first ambition but the cloying physicality of the Pumas at ruck and maul in slowing down opposing ball will make if difficult to secure quick ball. The potential for another forward-orientated arm wrestle that has become something of a hallmark of recent contests seems more likely.
Trimble is adamant Argentina won’t be as one dimensional and on the basis of video analysis won’t be afraid to putting width on their game. “Whenever you play a team like Argentina you have to bring physicality and you have to be direct whenever that is the right thing to do. But ultimately we want to play the way that suits us.
“Traditionally Argentina is a physical game (but) they have the ability to play with plenty of width. That’s the way we want to play, with pace, physicality and a good bit of width. That is when we looked most threatening (on Saturday). Argentina are fairly competent in that sort of game as well so if we take them on there we won’t be taking on a weakness of Argentina. They’re a good side in all areas.”
The Irish team will be desperately hoping the Pumas demonstrate a little more adventure than they did against France last weekend, although heavy rain was a mitigating factor in determining patterns on the day. It is not only the home supporters who will be hoping Kidney’s team retain the brio with which they played against the All Blacks.
Trimble admitted: “I was chatting to a few of the guys after the (New Zealand) game, and you don’t want to go on about it too much, but the All Blacks are an unbelievable side. We put some class rugby together, and I think we really need to be proud of ourselves. We took it to them. Obviously we had a bit of a lapse in concentration and that’s the sort of team the All Blacks are – they’ll put you away.
“We played with a fair bit of ambition and that’s the sort of rugby that personally I want to play so I was delighted to see the rest of the boys doing it. That’s the way we play our best rugby.”
The four-Test match November schedule – one more than usual – has been taxing mentally and physically, something that the Irish management has addressed in allowing players as much time off as feasible during match weeks.
Trimble explained: “There definitely is an element of ‘if we’d only played three games we’d be home by now and we’d be done’. As you said there is a little bit of cabin fever and the extra week will definitely take its toll considering the physicality that the game is going to bring on Sunday.
“It definitely does drag it out a little bit more. I think we’ve just got to look at ourselves and try to dig in for one more week and get another performance and hopefully a result. It’s going to be physical but we’re going to try not to get dragged into an arm wrestle with Argentina.”
SOUTH Africa have made two changes for Saturday’s Test against England, Ulster scrum-half Ruan Pienaar has returned in place of Francois Hougaard and Pierre Spies takes over at number eight from Ryan Kankowski.
SOUTH AFRICA: Z Kirchner; G Aplon, F Steyn, J de Villiers, L Mvovo; M Steyn, R Pienaar; T Mtawarira, B du Plessis, J du Plessis, B Botha, V Matfield (capt), D Stegmann, J Smith, P Spies.
