Ireland's home straight to World Cup starts with Pumas
Less than a year away from a potential 2027 World Cup quarter-final meeting, Ireland's hosting of Argentina represents an important staging post on the journey to Australia next autumn.
Ireland commence their Nations Championship Northern Series campaign on Friday against Argentina at Aviva Stadium. The rivalry between the two teams is significant, with Ireland having only won 14 out of 20 previous meetings. This fixture takes on added importance as Argentina have yet to win in Dublin, despite 12 players in the current squad having favorable memories of the Aviva Stadium from their 2023 Lions match.
Ireland head coach Andy Farrell believes his team is ready for the challenge, despite not being good enough to qualify for the World Cup yet. He emphasizes the need to prepare for the best opponents, noting that Ireland's previous defeats against top teams have been by double-digit scores. Key players like Sam Prendergast, Jamison Gibson-Park, Nick Timoney, and Craig Casey are set to start against a formidable Argentina side, which has made several changes ahead of their World Cup campaign.
Written by urgent.news from Yahoo Sports's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
Also reported by 1 other outlet
- England beat Ireland to top Wheelchair World Cup group sports.yahoo.com
