Ireland hooker Shane Byrne is looking forward to a physical battle with Argentina's tough forwards at Lansdowne Road on Saturday.

The Pumas pack has earned a reputation as one of world rugby's most formidable and intimidating units and gave Australia a tough time in Buenos Aires earlier this month.

But the Irish hooker, who came out on top of his head to head with the Wallabies' Adam Freier in Dublin a fortnight ago, is relishing the clash.

"I'm looking forward to it," he said. "We study what they do and we reckon we have the equipment to deal with it.

"They'll just have to deal with the way we're going to scrum. We're going to play it tight and inflict our game on them, deal with what they do and let them worry about us.

"We want to have a scrum that you can build an attacking platform from. We want to put their scrum under pressure so it's not in anyone's interest to be messing around in there.

"We know it's going to be a hard game, it's going to be a physical game but that's what you're there to do. You train hard so you can go out there for 80 minutes and I reckon we've a pack around us that are well able to deal with any pack out there and they're just going to have to deal with what we do.

"A lot of their game is built on set pieces. They really pride themselves on their set pieces so we aim to get stuck into them there and make it difficult for them."

Second row Malcolm O'Kelly agrees with his Leinster team-mate that the Pumas pack are a tough proposition but not an insurmountable one.

"They're as physical as any side we'll meet," O'Kelly said, "but we train hard and work hard and we've got to be confident that we can match them up front.

"They're a big unit. They're regarded as one of the best scrummaging units and they'll probably see it as two matches, up front and the actual result itself. We want to come out on top in both."

Byrne is revelling in his extended role as stand-in for inspirational Irish leader Keith Wood and a victory in the final international of the year will round things off nicely.

"When ever you pull on a green jersey it's a dream come true but to get a scalp like Australia just makes it extra special.

"This season has been fantastic so far, all missions accomplished. Now we've got to go out on Saturday and make sure we complete the year on a high."