The Irish squad touched down in Buenos Aires yesterday and after a build-up which saw three late withdrawals on the playing front and the announcement that forwards coach John Plumtree is to return to New Zealand after this tour, coach Joe Schmidt must have been relieved just to get everyone on the ground safely.

And they will have to hit the ground running in Argentina. There is little time for preparation and after a light training run yesterday in the warm and humid conditions, they will have a full-on training session at the Buenos Aires Hurling Club later today in preparation for Saturday's first Test against the Pumas in Resistencia.

Hurling team

There were over a dozen hurling teams at one stage in Buenos Aires but now rugby, hockey and tennis are the main sports at the club, with all the teams wearing the shamrock as their crest. The club’s hurling team played in the international hurling festival staged in Galway as part of The Gathering.

Ireland captain Paul O'Connell agreed it was an unusual build-up to a tour with so many players involved in the Pro12 final less than 24 hours before they departed.

“Normally when you have a 13-hour flight like that you’d have a minimum of 10 to 12 days to get yourself right for it.

“To have a 24-hour camp and then to come over here and then to be into a Test week after no prep together last week is a strange situation but I just think there is big demands made of us as players to be as ready as we can.

“It’s funny when that onus is put on players to get ready, they respond. We’re lucky to fly over business class and there were seven or eight laptops flying around.

“There’s a real atmosphere around the tour that guys want to give it 100 per cent. You could see on the plane, with guys with laptops looking at footage and it’s great to see that enthusiasm,” said O’Connell.

He said he was surprised and disappointed when Plumtree announced on Sunday he was going to return to New Zealand after this two-match tour.

“He spoke briefly, he spoke from the heart, I suppose. For him, I wouldn’t say it’s a no-brainer but to be away from home for as long as he had, I think it’s 20-odd years out of New Zealand ... he has this chance to go home and be three hours away from where his parents are.

Perspective

“I think he said his dad has never actually met his youngest son, which I didn’t know, and it put the whole decision into perspective for him, really.

“He’s been brilliant for us, it wasn’t an easy decision for him but family comes first and he felt he had to make the decision.”

O’Connell said they hope to achieve a lot on this short tour and that several areas had been identified after the Six Nations triumph where improvement could be made.

“We’re in a good place and we’re in a place where there is still a lot of room for improvement. When we review a lot of what we did in the Six Nations with Joe, which we did in our little two-day camp, there is still a lot of room for improvement, particularly when you look at our performance against England – they’re a good side and a side who are only going to get better, so we’ll have to get better too because there are a lot of things we would have done differently and executed differently,” he added.

Backs coach Les Kiss said that in trying to fill the number 13 jersey they are not trying to replace Brian O’Driscoll.

“It will be whatever person puts his hand up and takes the opportunity, I hope he will try to make that place his own.

“Certainly he will be under the spotlight without a doubt because it was Brian jersey’s but that’s part of the challenge.

“The players that we do fill the position with, it will be up to us as coaches to see if they can fill that jersey and do it justice at international level.

Series in November

“Not only have we got these two Test matches but we have a series in November that will inform us a little bit more and where we will go from there.

“But I think it is important in our approach we are not trying to replace Brian but find that 13 that is not going to lose his own way and his own style and that’s going to look after it.”