Joe Schmidt has made seven changes to the Ireland starting XV for Saturday's second test against Argentina in what is a strikingly more experienced side.
Six of Leinster's victorious Pro12 finalists from a fortnight ago are brought into the team - Rob Kearney, Fergus McFadden, Eoin Reddan, Devin Toner, Rhys Ruddock and Jamie Heaslip - as is the Munster loose-head David Kilcoyne.
There is a further positional switch, with McFadden’s selection at outside centre seeing Darren Cave shift inside to ‘12’, at the expense of Luke Marshall.
Felix Jones and Robbie Diack also drop out of the match-day squad, with Conor Murray, Jack McGrath, Iain Henderson and Jordi Murphy shifting to the bench.
At a stroke, the team’s experience has gone up significantly, with 565 caps in the starting XV for this test as opposed to the 366 which was assembled come kick-off last Saturday.
The exceptions to this trend are amongst the replacements, where Rob Herring, James Cronin and Noel Reid are called up to the bench and thus are in line to win their first caps.
Rather tellingly, Rodney Ah You is omitted altogether after making his debut off the bench last week, with McGrath covering tighthead, and last week’s other Connacht debutant off the bench, also misses out.
“We brought 29 players away on tour,” said Schmidt from their base in Tucuman today, “and we wanted to make sure we recognised the amount of effort that they made on the training pitch and to be well prepared to train well and they all have so we wanted to give them an opportunity to demonstrate that in a test match arena.”
Explaining their choice of a more experienced side, Schmidt said: “We try to keep a little bit of a spine through the team. I mentioned earlier that Damien Varley is one I would feel a little bit of sympathy for. I think he made a really good impact coming off the bench last weekend.”
“I thought Robbie Diack played really and I thought Felix Jones was pretty much flawless at fullback, apart from one time when he knocked the ball back into the 22 and we put it out. But those guys unfortunately missed out to guys who add a little bit of freshness.”
“Rob Kearney coming in for Felix, for example, he has got a lot of experience as well and we just feel there could be a bit of an Argentinian backlash, the fact that they will be wanting to make sure in what is the heart of rugby a little bit in Argentina and Tucuman.
“They have got six Tucuman men involved in the game on Saturdaythat a little bit of experience to try and make sure that we weather that first 20 minutes storm. I just feel there is a little bit of security about that and then give guys the opportunity off the bench from there.”
With three more potential debutants to add to last week’s trio, the Irish coach said it would be a massive day for Cronin, Herring and Reid.
“I think it is a massive day for them. They have all acquitted themselves really well. We have been massively impressed with how they have acquitted themselves in the training environment, in the way the have prepared themselves and make sure that the training changes are reasonably seamless.
“So, for James Cronin, I think his kind of whirlwind progression from just getting a start this year with Munster right through to potentially getting on in a test match is fantastic for him. I don’t think any of those three guys are the finished product but it will be another step toward giving them the confidence to continue to grow and hopefully add further value to us.”
In the aftermath of last Saturday’s game, Schmidt had clearly been taken aback by Ah You’s fitness levels, or lack of, when he commented: “I think they’ll learn a bit. I think Rodney will come to the pace of the game, but he certainly found it pretty taxing even though he was only on for about 12 minutes.
“But a great first scrum, a great scrum turnover down at their end because he is a powerful scrummager. If we can work on those other elements of his game that’ll be first class. And Kieran Marmion, he is a tiger. He works very hard. I thought maybe when he took it out of the maul that it was a little bit of naive impatience.”
The Pumas have made two changes to their starting line-up, with Antonio Ahualli de Chazal coming in for the injured Benjamín Macome (who suffered a broken arm in the first test) at number eight and Lucas González Amorosino replacing Santiago Cordero on the right wing.
Ireland: Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster); Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster), Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster), Darren Cave (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster), Simon Zebo (Cork Constitution/Munster); Jonathan Sexton (Racing Metro 92), Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster); Dave Kilcoyne (UL Bohemians/Munster), Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster), Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster); Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster), Paul O’Connell (Young Munster/Munster) ; Rhys Ruddock (St Mary’s College/Leinster), Chris Henry (Malone/Ulster), Jamie Heaslip (Dublin University/Leinster). Replacements: Rob Herring (Ballynahinch/Ulster), James Cronin (Dolphin/Munster), Jack McGrath (St. Mary’s College/Leinster), Iain Henderson (Ballynahinch/Ulster), Jordi Murphy (Lansdowne/Leinster), Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster), Ian Madigan (Blackrock/Leinster), Noel Reid (Clontarf/Leinster)
Argentina: Joaquín Tuculet; Lucas González Amorosino, Jerónimo De la Fuente, Gabriel Ascárate, Manuel Montero; Nicolás Sánchez, Martín Landajo (capt); Lucas Noguera Paz, Matías Cortese, Ramiro Herrera, Manuel Carizza, Tomas Lavanini, Rodrigo Báez, Tomás De la Vega, Antonio Ahualli de Chazal. Replacements: Santiago Iglesias Valdez, Bruno Postiglioni, Matías Díaz, Matías Alemanno, Javier Ortega Desio, Tomás Cubelli, Santiago González Iglesias, Matías Orlando.
