D'Arcy wary of Contepomi threat
Gordon D’Arcy is looking forward to meeting his former Leinster team-mate Felipe Contepomi when Ireland face Argentina at Lansdowne Road on Saturday, but is well aware of the threat the Pumas pose.
Argentina arrive in Dublin on the back of a narrow 15-9 loss to France in Montpellier having thrashed them 41-13 in Buenos Aires in June.
Contepomi now with French Top 14 club Toulon, is set to start at flyhalf for the Pumas.
“Looking at their [Argentina] results, especially the French one at the weekend, it shows what a challenge we have this weekend,” said D’Arcy.
“Argentina just always seem to make it especially hard to break them down and to run France so close on French soil is a good indicator of what they can bring to the Aviva [Stadium] on Sunday.
“It will be good to catch up with Felipe both on and off the pitch. From what I have seen he has been going really well with Toulon and seems to be bringing that sort of form onto the international stage.
“It just shows what a great talent he is and that he is still a big player for Argentina.
“They might be missing [Juan Martin] Hernandez, but they have Felipe there pulling the strings alongside the other experienced players for them like [Mario] Ledesma, [Juan Martin] Fernandez Lobbe, [Gonzalo] Tiesi and [Patricio] Albecete.
“It shows that it is a quality Argentina team and we expect a challenge right across the park from them.”
The Pumas knocked Ireland out of the 2007 World Cup on their way to finishing third in the tournament and Ireland assistant coach Alan Gaffney said there was more to the South Americans than the powerful forward game with which Argentina have traditionally been associated.
“I haven’t had a chance to look at their game against France yet, but it shows what a tough nut to crack they are,” Gaffney said.
“There is a physical challenge that they will bring to the Aviva, but what they always have and I don’t think they get as much credit for, is a real cutting edge and some good ball players,” the Australian insisted.
“Felipe has come back from his injury problems last year and shown great form at club level and during the summer when he destroyed France.
“He has got some good players around him as well in Tiesi and [Niolas] Vergallo as well as [Lucas Gonzalez] Amorosino and [Martin] Rodriguez, so they bring a big threat when they have the ball.”
Meanwhile D’Arcy was left with a sense of frustration after featuring in Ireland’s 38-18 loss to New Zealand here on Saturday.
“I suppose there were mixed feelings after the game,” he said.
“We were happy a lot of the things we have been trying to do over the last two weeks started to come off but disappointed at the end some of our own mistakes allowed New Zealand to capitalise and pull away from us with those quick scores.
“They are very clinical when taking scoring opportunities.
“I don’t think there is a better side in the world at the moment in terms of punishing you for any mistakes, but I think we can be positive that we are still on the right road and Saturday showed that.”
D’Arcy suffered a calf injury against the All Blacks but was hopeful of being fit to face the Pumas.
“I will rest it up and let the medics look after it and hopefully it will come good over the next couple of days.”
AFP
