Following Andy Farrell’s Ireland selection to take on a resurgent Argentina in their second Autumn Nations Series Test, here are our winners and losers.
Winners
Cian Healy
Veteran loosehead prop Cian Healy is the big winner this week, as he looks set to equal Brian O’Driscoll’s record of 133 caps. The Leinsterman has been a fantastic servant to Ireland over his international career and is still proving to be a vital part of this Ireland squad after 17 years. To contextualise his career, and apologies in advance, debutant Sam Prendergast was just four years old when Healy made his Test debut back in 2007, which just shows the longevity of his career at the highest level.
The big party, hopefully, will be next weekend, but this should still be a fantastic occasion for a sensational player.
Debutants
Farrell has put his faith in two rookies for this game, with Prendergast and Thomas Clarkson named on the bench.
Fly-half Prendergast excelled during the Emerging Ireland tour of South Africa and has also been in good touch for Leinster in the United Rugby Championship in his two outings this season. Whilst this is undoubtedly a fantastic learning experience for him, it’s by no means a sympathy cap either. Ireland lacked their usual spark against the All Blacks, and the exceptional 21-year-old is the one chosen to fix it.
Prop Clarkson is the latest Leinsterman to come into the squad, and there’s no doubt he is an exciting prospect as well. The injury to Tadhg Furlong has given him a shot in the Leinster squad this campaign, and he’s become a regular feature in Leo Cullen’s matchday 23 with six appearances to his name. Like Prendergast, he will likely be in and around the Ireland squad for a long time, and giving him this experience now will make Ireland’s tighthead ranks that much stronger.
Craig Casey
Munsterman Craig Casey is certainly a winner this weekend, as he leapfrogs experienced counterpart – and club teammate – Conor Murray into the 23. Casey is such a nippy player around the park, and likes to play with tempo, which should cure Ireland’s attacking woes after a pretty timid showing against the All Blacks.
This is also a huge opportunity for him to make his case to be a regular feature in this Ireland side moving forward. He’s been a regular feature in Farrell’s wider squads for some time now, but has yet to consistently make the 23-man squads, but a good showing against Argentina will go a long way to doing this.
Like Prendergast, this is by no means a sympathy call-up. Argentina will be no pushover this weekend and are potentially the best Los Pumas side we’ve seen since the 2015 World Cup, and Farrell has chosen players he thinks can get the job done against them on Friday night.
Robbie Henshaw
From not being in the 23 at all to starting in midfield this weekend. Robbie Henshaw is a really classy player and seems to always play well for Ireland when called upon. He also knows exactly how Garry Ringrose plays too, given they have featured alongside each other plenty of times in the past, and this could be a factor behind his selection.
Unchanged back three
The tried and trusted trio of James Lowe, Mack Hansen and Hugo Keenan are usually at the centre of things for Ireland, but they weren’t able to do anything of real note in last weekend’s defeat and could possibly count themselves lucky to retain their spots.
They do have the chance to make up for this though on Friday, and you would imagine they will be back to their best after some stern words in the week from Farrell.
In the same sort of situation as the trio above, really. The bench has seen some large-scale changes from last weekend’s defeat, but Farrell has opted to keep his enforcer in the 23.
That’s probably the reason he’s still in the squad though, as his abrasive work should combat the exceptional Los Pumas back-row well. He will need a big game though if he wants to keep his place in the side.
Losers
Bundee Aki
It’s the curious case of Bundee Aki this week in Dublin, as the Connacht man misses out on selection entirely. He played the full 80 minutes against the All Blacks last time out, and there has been nothing out of the Ireland camp to suggest he has picked up a knock either during the game or in training this week, so he might have been axed due to performance.
Ciaran Frawley
There have already been huge peaks and troughs in his Ireland career, but Ciaran Frawley has been dropped from the bench this week in favour of debutant Prendergast. He looked to be Jack Crowley’s main contender for the fly-half shirt after his late heroics against the Springboks, but now it seems he might have to fight to keep his spot in the 23 altogether.
Iain Henderson
Another of the bench casualties this weekend is Iain Henderson, who also drops out of the 23 completely. The Ulster lock didn’t necessarily do anything wrong last time out either, bar coughing up a penalty, but yet still finds himself in the stands for Friday’s clash with Los Pumas.
Jamie Os𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧e
Whilst he is still involved in the side, he can feel slightly hard done by not being included in the starting XV given Aki’s dropping and Henshaw coming straight into the side. He looked in decent form in his previous two starts for Ireland – granted they came at full-back – but would have done a decent job of it if called into the starting team.
Jacob Stockdale
Another back unlucky to miss out on the squad is Jacob Stockdale. Capable of playing both centre and wing, he could easily have been drafted into this 23 to reignite the attack, and given his form for Ulster he certainly would have done. If things pan out the same as they did against the All Blacks, Farrell would be expecting a knock on his door.
Conor Murray
Experienced scrum-half Murray is another one dropped from the bench, and it’s with good reason too. There is no denying Murray is a great of the game, and will certainly be remembered as one of Ireland’s greatest-ever nines, but against New Zealand he just couldn’t get going.
Casey has been the next cab off the rank for a good while, and at the moment looks to be overtaking Murray in the pecking order.
