Andy Farrell is set to retain faith in the bulk of his starting XV for Friday’s second Autumn Nations Series game against Argentina at the Aviva Stadium, and in so doing tap into the players’ yearning desire to atone for a rare off-colour performance against New Zealand a week ago.
The team and replacements are scheduled to be announced at around 2pm on Wednesday and Robbie Henshaw looks likely to be recalled in midfield, while the indications are that Jack Crowley will retain the number 10 jersey.
The Munster outhalf has started all of Ireland’s eight internationals to date since last year’s World Cup, playing every minute of the Six Nations’ title defence when contributing 52 points. Crowley started both Tests in South Africa before being replaced just before the hour mark in both the second Test in Durban and last Friday’s 23-13 loss at home to New Zealand.
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The fickleness of sport was ably demonstrated by the sharply contrasting fortunes of Frawley’s two appearances off the bench. In Durban, he was the match-winner with two drop goals but against the All Blacks, he seemed to be trying too hard and pretty much everything that could go wrong did just that.
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Whether or not Farrell and his think tank were of a mind to rotate their three outhalves over the course of this Autumn Nations Series, or whether last Friday changed their thinking, is a moot point. But in any event, the signs are that Crowley has been running the team from outhalf this week, with Frawley and Sam Prendergast alternating in and out as well.
Henshaw partnered Bundee Aki in the First Test in South Africa before Farrell opted to shift him to inside centre a week later and promote Garry Ringrose from the bench after he’d missed the Six Nations with a shoulder injury. As they did for that win in Durban, it would appear that Henshaw and Ringrose are in line to renew their Leinster midfield partnership again, to the exclusion of the unlucky Aki, who is set to miss out on the matchday 23 entirely.
Although that midfield reconfiguration was one of four changes from the first to the second Test, two of those were enforced, with the other selection being James Ryan’s promotion from the bench in Pretoria with Tadhg Beirne moving to blindside and Caelan Doris assuming the captaincy from Peter O’Mahony.
If that pack was good enough for the second Test in Kings Park against the fully stacked world champions and again last week, affording them another opportunity en bloc would make sense. It would also be more in keeping with Farrell’s approach — witness his decision not to make any changes after the loss at Twickenham in round four of the Six Nations for the finale at home to Scotland a week later.
Other than recalling Henshaw therefore, it could be that the Ireland starting XV will be otherwise unchanged despite the somewhat limp and error-strewn performance against New Zealand.
Confirmation that Tom O’Toole is obliged to undergo the 12-day return to play protocols would seem to strongly indicate that the 24-year-old Leinster tighthead Thomas Clarkson may make his Test debut off the bench against Argentina, whatever the extent of Tadhg Furlong’s hamstring injury.
Forecasting the rest of the bench looks more difficult, for Farrell could not disguise the lack of impact from his replacements in losing the last half-hour 14-0 a week ago.
“I think some of them came on a little bit too desperate,” he admitted. “There were one or two errors or penalties or whatever, but that wasn’t just the bench, that was throughout the game with the team as a whole anyway.”
He assuredly had Iain Henderson and Frawley in mind, with the former vying for a place among the replacements with Ryan Baird, given the latter was entrusted to affect the two Tests in South Africa with 31-minute and 24-minute run-outs.
Craig Casey was chosen to start the Pretoria Test before being ruled out of the Durban Test when Conor Murray replaced him and, no less than last week, that looks like a close call again. Likewise, outhalf back-up looks like a close call between Frawley and the uncapped Prendergast.
Ireland (possible) v Argentina: Keenan; Hansen, Ringrose, Henshaw, Lowe; Crowley, Gibson-Park; Porter, Kelleher, Bealham, McCarthy, Ryan, Beirne, van der Flier, Doris (capt). Replacements: Herring, Healy, Clarkson, Henderson or Baird, O’Mahony, Murray or Casey, Frawley or Prendergast, Osborne.
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