Andy Farrell believes taking on Argentina will be the “perfect” test of Ireland’s character after they “let a few people down” during a deflating defeat to the All Blacks.
The Six Nations champions were dealt a reality check at the start of their autumn campaign when New Zealand capitalised on a raft of errors to become the first visiting team to triumph in Dublin in more than three years.
Head coach Farrell has kept faith with 14 of the 15 players who started the underwhelming 23-13 loss as his side prepare to host a dangerous Pumas side at the Aviva Stadium on Friday evening.
Felipe Contepomi’s men sit fifth in the Test rankings and have already toppled the Kiwis, world champions South Africa, Australia and France this year.
“Pressure is good, it’s what concentrates the mind – you see where your character’s at,” said Farrell.
“We want to win all of our games but the opposition are always going to have a say in that.
“I think this is perfect because we’ve got another top, top drawer opposition coming and we want to test ourselves because we feel like we let a few people down last week.
“It’s the best medicine for you, to get back on the horse.”
Centre Robbie Henshaw has replaced Bundee Aki in the only alteration to Ireland’s starting XV.
While Farrell has been heartened by his players’ response in training, he saw no signs of what was to come against the All Blacks during last week’s preparation.
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“When you get punched on the nose, how you react is different to training and preparing well,” he said.
“We’ve trained well, we’ve been very honest and open in that regard, which tends to focus the mind in training anyway.
“But it was good last week, so it’s about dealing with the moments in front of our face as the 80 minutes progresses. That’s what we need to get better at.
“When you’re a pretty honest group it makes it easier to find solutions and get to the point straight away and make sure we turn the page as soon as we can.”
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Uncapped Leinster duo Thomas Clarkson and Sam Prendergast have been included on a rejigged bench.
Farrell feels rookie fly-half Prendergast is primed for the demands of international rugby, despite his limited experience at provincial level.
The 21-year-old, who has an opportunity to put pressure on first-choice 10 Jack Crowley after being preferred to Ciaran Frawley, started all three matches of the recent Emerging Ireland tour of South Africa, having been an unused squad member during the senior team’s two-match summer series against the Springboks.
“He’s ready. For a young fella that’s not had much game-time provincially, he’s obviously had more of late, but in an ironic way he’s probably been patient enough,” Farrell said of Prendergast.
“Because, in his own mind he’d probably thought he’s been ready for quite some time because he’s that kind of kid, a confident kid.
“The experience that he’s got from being around the squad, he’s comfortable in his own skin.
“The reason for taking him on the Emerging tour was to make sure that he understood what it was to grab hold of his team and show that he is in charge.
“He showed that in abundance, we’ve seen the knock-on effect from that in the squad in the last couple of weeks.
“In his own mind he’s ready; he’s a young kid that’s in a pressurised-type position. He’s going to make his mistakes, but that’s the nature of anyone coming through.”
