Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Ex-Wallabies’ bold predictions for ‘very beatable’ Ireland’s next Test

James Lowe reacts to Ireland's 23-13 loss to New Zealand in Dublin. Picture: PA.

Argentina made history during The Rugby Championship as they recorded wins over all three opposing teams for the first time. It was a special achievement, and they may have another reason to celebrate an incredible year after another blockbuster Test this weekend.

ADVERTISEMENT

Former Wallabies Cameron Shepherd and Tim Horan have both predicted Argentina to upset Ireland at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium. Los Pumas have lost the last three Tests between the sides, with their last win coming at the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

Ireland were on the wrong side of an annihilation that October evening in Cardiff as they went down 43-20 in the quarter-finals. While their quarter-final curse continued to strike at the next two World Cups, the Irish have still emerged as one of the leading nations in the sport.

Video Spacer

Video Spacer

This time last week, Ireland were on top of World Rugby’s rankings, but they’ve since dropped back to third following a surprise 23-13 loss to New Zealand. Damian McKenzie and Will Jordan both got on the scoresheet as the All Blacks recorded a memorable win.

Shepherd has tipped the Southern Hemisphere’s dominance to continue up north, which spells more bad news for the Irish. The men in green will be desperate to bounce back in front of a packed house at the Aviva, but Argentina are by no means an easy team to beat.

“I think so, I think so. I think Argentina’s going to be very, very competitive against Ireland,” Shepherd said on Stan Sports’ Rugby Heaven. “I thought Ireland were disappointing. They need to really turn up this weekend.

“I don’t think the All Blacks did anything too special, they just moved the ball very well at depth into space, attacked them on the edge and that up-and-in defence that Ireland has been using.

ADVERTISEMENT

“They showed they’re very beatable, even in Ireland.”

Ireland opened the scoring against New Zealand in the seventh minute, with flyhalf Jack Crowley converting an early penalty goal. But it was all the visitors from there as McKenzie slotted three unanswered penalties of his own, but then the match’s momentum swung.

Jordie Barrett was sent to the sin bin following a high shot on Garry Ringrose. Ireland scored the next 10 points without reply, which included a seemingly decisive score to backrower Josh van der Flier about two minutes into the second half.

But it was all one-way traffic from there as McKenzie slotted another three penalty goals, Jordan crossed for another try against Ireland, and the All Blacks’ defensive wall stood tall. It was a historic night as New Zealand registered their first win over Ireland in Dublin since 2016.

Also in the Autumn Nations Series, Argentina took on Italy at Stadio Friuli and left with a statement win on the road. The visitors scored the first 17 points of the contest before a yellow card to Juan Martin Gonzalez brought the Alluri back into the contest.

Head-to-Head

Last 4 Meetings

Wins
4
Draws
0
Wins
0
Average Points scored
33
16
First try wins
75%
Home team wins
100%

ADVERTISEMENT

Italy scored 13 unanswered points to make a game of it, but once Argentina got going again there was no stopping them. They added 17 points to their score in as many minutes, and ended up scoring another two tries later in the Test to round out a stunning 50-18 win.

Following wins over the All Blacks in New Zealand, a record win over the Wallabies in Santa Fe, and a one-point win over the world champion Springboks, Los Pumas have truly emerged as a force to be reckoned with – and they’ve got Ireland up next.

“This is their big one. I reckon Argentina, they’ve set themselves up their whole tour for this match and I think there is an upset coming here,” Horan explained.

“The way that Argentina, their forward pack and their backrow, they’re bigger bodies than Ireland.

“Ireland would have been really disappointed with the amount of penalties they gave away against the All Blacks last weekend.”

Louis Rees-Zammit joins Jim Hamilton for the latest episode of Walk the Talk to discuss his move to the NFL. Watch now on RugbyPass TV

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

5 Comments
H
HenryAU 7 days ago

Expect a big backlash from Ireland - Argies can't string together back to back wins, not against top tier. Bookies agree at 1.17 / 5.40 .. Ireland by plenty.

J
JD 7 days ago

They'll win but not by plenty.

B
Bull Shark 7 days ago

Im not an ex-Wallaby. But I have also boldly predicted that Argentina will win by 3 points.


The Argies played beautiful rugby last week - the question is, can they do it two weeks in a row?

N
Ninjin 7 days ago

Argentina by 17

Load More Comments

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
JW 1 hour ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

286 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ 'Lightweight' Premiership not preparing England players for Test rugby 'Lightweight' Premiership not preparing England players for Test rugby
Search