Hugo hits the high notes as first box is ticked

IRELAND…42

ARGENTINA…12

I’m not sure of the concept of giving a player who registers a hat-trick of tries exists in rugby but even if that’s a negative, anybody with a heart would surely give it to Hugo Keenan anyway given the imperious performance delivered by the unfortunately injury prone Leinster utility back.

Though if acknowledging Keenan’s gargantuan effort, fair dues must also be afforded to another man who fits into the exact same category – Mac Hansen of Connacht.

He of the white scrum cap has something mercurial about him, which leads to situations where his own teammates often wouldn’t know what he’s about to do next, never mind the opposition.

Tonight, those present in D4 were treated to the full bread basket of tricks. Astonishing and relentless lines of running and an array of wrap around or skip passes which disarmed several South Americans at a time. Most notably when the Connacht man and fly half Sam Prendergast worked brilliantly together to put their full back in twice in quick succession.

Now, anyone who can remember back as far as 1999 will know that the light blue and white hoops have a habit of making matters very difficult indeed for Irish teams. And, when the defensive alignment went completely awry, Felipe Contempomi’s side took ruthless advantage of Craig Casey being left isolated against one of their wingers.

However, thankfully from an Irish perspective, they hadn’t brought their place kicking boots with them. Moreover, their failure to extract full value from breeching the Irish line became a double whammy when Dan Sheehan, to my mind the best player in world rugby at present, latched onto a lineout he had fed himself before peeling off the back of said rolling maul and dotting down in what is now trademark fashion. Not very often you can say that about a hooker!

All of which meant that the locals had constructed a 21-5 buffer by the time Luke Pearce sent the signal for the Jaffa Cakes. Any modicum of doubt pertaining to the eventual outcome was extinguished seconds into the second half when Prendergast showed another string to his fly half bow when slicing through the Pumas defence to run in his first international try under the posts.

If one wanted to be nit picky in the extreme, the point could be made that when Argentina did get broken play in open ground they did breach the Irish barricades with a lot less difficulty than Andy Farrell et al would have expected or liked.

Still, knowing the manic aggression Paul O’Connell most likely transfuses into the entire group, you can probably take it as read that such inefficiencies will be, eh, discussed, between now and the Fiji match. After all, he very evidently put the fear of God (Considered to be himself within rugby circles) into those involved in the lineout sector of operations because the absolutely devoured the members of the cat family in that aspect of the game.

With the result that not only did Sheehan manufacture a try from a maul accruing from a lineout, his direct replacement Ronan Kelleher ended up doing likewise with what – barring the pursuant two points kicked by replacement fly half Ciaran Frawley – turned out to be the last score of the game with a full 25 minutes of playing time still to go.

Granted, taking the identity of the opposition into account – and that is not meant to be in a derogatory sense in the slightest, more an acknowledgement of the manner in which the land of Messi and Maradonna have been completely decimated by injuries in the oval ball code.

So there are a few takeaways to be deduced from the overall tale of the tape. One, that if Ireland do come across the same opposition in a World Cup environment they are likely to be a much better organised and more potent outfit. Two, it is stating the blindingly obvious to point out that Andy Farrell’s charges couldn’t afford to even go half as long, literally, without scoring against other opponents.

Three, the current system regarding Head Injury Assessments (HIA’s) is a messy farce which completely destroys whatever rhythm there might be in a match as players switch in and out quicker than in the NBA or Australian Football League (AFL). If I am not mistaken, one Argentine player came on and off at least three times during the course of the game. Ridiculous and needless.

No, I am not for half a second suggesting that HIA protocols and/or procedures being in place pertaining to same are a bad thing. One Phil Quinlan is one too many. If you don’t understand that reference look it up, it will be an education for you. But there has to be a better way of restructuring team alignments regarding same.

The obvious solution that comes to mind is to have more than 23 players in a match day squad. Certain parts of rugby administration and governance are still far too regimented. That’s without mentioning the sycophantic kow towing that prevails towards referees. Their farts do, in fact, smell as well!

Seriously, though, there doesn’t seem to be any impediment to the increasing match day squads to 26 for example. There tends to be no club action when national teams are in camp in any case.

On a more mundane level though, why the subs always have to wear the same jersey numbers. For example, hookers are always No. 16, half backs are 21 and 22, and whatever utility back is also in the squad will be 23.

Rather than, for example, whoever is likely to be the first sub in wearing 16. Similar to, for example, how the first outfield sub liable to be used on a GAA team will be decked out in the No. 17 jersey.

Just a thought. Anyway, with Fiji on the horizon next week, it’s highly likely there will be wholesale changes to the Irish lineup. Which in one way presents an opportunity for Farrell to really and truly test what depth of resources he actually has at his disposal. Better to do that experimenting now than when the fat is really in the fire.