‘I don’t think there will be much between the sides come full-time’, says former Pumas captain

Former Argentina skipper and current line-out coach Juan Fernandez Lobbe is expecting an “epic clash under the lights” when his side go head-to-head with Ireland in rugby’s Nations Championship at the Aviva Stadium on Friday night, seeking a first win against the Irish in more than a decade.

The 44-year-old, who won 71 caps and reached two World Cup Semi-Finals as a player with the Pumas during his 11-year international career as well as winning the European Cup with French giants Toulon in three consecutive seasons between 2012 and 2015, is now hoping to bring more glory to the national side, this time as a coach, against Andy Farrell’s men.

“I am really excited to be going up against Ireland this week,” said Lobbe, whose side arrived in Dublin a full week before the game.

“Yes, I’m not playing any more but, as an Argentinian, having the chance to coach the team and help develop young players for the future is the next best thing and it makes me very proud.

“The Irish have a real world-class side and I expect it to be a huge game this week between two teams who I think have some of the most passionate fans in the world.”

Lobbe knows one or two things about playing the boys in green, most notably two World Cup meetings in 2007 and 2015 when Argentina shocked the globe by overcoming the Irish in two commanding performances, the latter breaking Irish hearts at the quarter-final stage in England.

However, the former back-rower realises history has not always been kind to Los Pumas.

“I certainly remember the World Cup wins well,” Lobbe agrees.

“But these were far from easy. Every win against Ireland requires you to play at your highest level and I certainly remember playing Ireland plenty of times when we took a real drubbing, so we never take these games for granted.”

Ireland would go onto win the five games between the sides between the 2007 and 2015 World Cups, as well as the four meetings between the sides since then.

So why is it that the side currently led by former player Felipe Contepomi gets the upper hand over the Irish come the big occasion?

“I think Argentina has always needed to work on consistency, but that can be hard when so many of our squad are based in Europe,” explains the man who also enjoyed a spell in the English Premiership with Sale Sharks.

“We have struggled some years in between World Cups but then, come the tournament, we are ready.

“We have a togetherness because we have been together for so long as a group going into the tournament.

“Because of our players playing all across Europe that is not always the case.

“For instance this week some of our squad will be playing on Sunday past and not arriving to Dublin until Monday night, with our game on Friday.

“This is very difficult to prepare for. However, these are things that we cannot control, so as coaches we need to be it as easy as possible to pick up from where we were the last time the squad was together and I think we are getting better at that.

“We are in a good place this week, we are quite lucky having only a small number of players missing out through injury, so I am hopeful come Friday we will be able to show our strengths against Ireland.”

Throughout the last 50 years that Argentinian strength has been placed largely around dominating at the set-piece with immense forward power, but times have changed and manager Contepomi has introduced a style of play that not only threatens with ballast but also speed and dexterity in the wider channels.

“It is definitely more of a 15-man game we play, especially since Felipe has come in to the fold,” said Lobbe.

“We haven’t lost sight of the need to win at the set-piece and win the collision battles, but now we have very dangerous backs who can worry any defence and hopefully we will see that on Friday.”

Ireland currently sit five places ahead of the Pumas in third position in the official world rankings, however, Lobbe is expecting a tight game in south Dublin.

“I don’t think there will be much between the sides come full-time.

“Ireland have impressed me over the last 12 months. They have an exciting back row, they have a hooker in Dan Sheehan who is like another back and turns up everywhere; they have a number nine who sees things happening two seconds before anyone else, and they have a huge centre pairing.

“They will be a dangerous side, but we are hopeful of playing to our strengths and getting a win.

“For me it will come down to ourselves coming out with fewer unforced errors than Ireland. These are the errors at the line-out and our kicking game that we can train on during the week and if we can eliminate these from our game I believe we could be celebrating come full-time.”