Sam Prendergast appears to be winning his fitness race ahead of Ireland's Nations Championship opener against Argentina, with a squad update saying management are "optimistic" the out-half will be available to play on Friday.

Prendergast picked up a wrist injury ahead of Leinster's BKT United Rugby Championship Interpro with Munster last month.

But Ireland assistant coach Paul O'Connell has confirmed the 23-year-old has stepped up the intensity of his training in recent days.

"He's been tracking well and he's been jumping in and out of bits of training, non-contact bits, pretty close to full-contact bits, and he's been very confident and comfortable doing it," O'Connell said.

"So, I'm not 100% sure, but he looks like he could be OK."

Prendergast appears to be the only injury concern for the Irish management ahead of the first game of the Nations Championship window, with Jimmy O'Brien back in full training after coming through the return to play protocols following a concussion.

"It's been great, and we probably have a bit of a smaller group here. So we've had very few players on the sideline," O'Connell (below) continued.

"They've all been training quite hard and training quite fast and it's been quite physical as well. So it's been good to keep the injury count down.

"It's great because it allows you to really embed what you want to stand for. It's really on the pitch that guys learn. They can get it and understand it and know exactly what we want to do. They need to do it when they're fatigued and under a bit of pressure as well, so training week has been good."

Ireland face Argentina on Friday at Aviva Stadium, before hosting Fiji and South Africa, with one final Test in London on the last weekend of November, which will decide the overall standings for the new Nations Championship format.

Their 40-21 defeat to New Zealand in July leaves them in fourth place in the northern hemisphere table of the championship, while Argentina are fourth in the southern section, with one win from their opening three games.

It's been a difficult season so far for Felipe Contepomi's Pumas, who haven't been helped by the cancelation of the Rugby Championship this year, with South Africa and New Zealand instead holding their own Test series.

Argentina have only played six games in 2026, with their only win coming at home to Wales in July, but O'Connell is putting more focus into what the best version of Argentina looks like, rather than the recent version.

"I think Argentina have the all-court game, which you kind of have to have when you're playing in the competition they are down there. I know they didn't have as many fixtures this year, given the New Zealand-South Africa Test series, but they're playing South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. That's the competition they're in.

"They're in that world where it's very physical in terms of attack, more defence, big setpiece challenge at the scrum from all those teams. Kicking game is really important down there as well. You can see they've done a massive amount of work on that in terms of their ability to retrieve kicks on both sides, whether they're kicking them or whether they're receiving kicks.

"They obviously play very fast as well. Felipe would be a fan of that style. You kind of get an all-court game against them.

"Some phenomenal athletes, with great feet. A nice mixture of styles, given that a lot of their players play in different clubs around the place. It's an all-court game that you have to be really well prepared for.

"We started well against them two years ago. Through their own individual brilliance and collective brilliance, we were lucky to win the game in the end. It'll be a real tough challenge.

"Then they've added some real experience into their coaching staff, which will bring an extra edge, an extra bit of excitement and an extra bit of clarity to what they're doing. It's going to be a tough challenge."