At the conclusion of Ireland v Argentina on Friday evening, the victorious captain will receive the Admiral Brown Cup.
This is a rivalry that has been at the centre of some of Ireland's most infamous rugby moments, with three World Cup exits at the hands of the Argentines over the years giving it an added bit of spice.
Like several of rugby's biggest international clashes, it has been adorned with a trophy - but just what is the Admiral Brown Cup?
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What is the Admiral Brown Cup?
The Admiral Brown Cup has been awarded to the victors of any test match between Ireland and Argentina since November 2012.
24 November 2012; The Admiral Brown Cup - La Copa Almirante Brown, presented to the winner's of today's Ireland v Argentina game. Autumn International, Ireland v Argentina, Aviva Stadium, Lansdowne Road, Dublin. Picture credit: Brendan Moran / SPORTSFILE
A joint initiative by the Embassy of Argentina in Dublin and the Irish Embassy in Buenos Aires, alongside the UAR and IRFU, the trophy is named after historic Argentine Admiral William Brown.
Who was Admiral Brown?
Admiral William Brown was born in Foxford, County Mayo in 1777. At a young age, Brown emigrated to Philadelphia and ultimately ended up in Buenos Aires, Argentina during his teenage years.
After travelling back across the Atlantic and spending time in the UK, Brown arrived back in Argentina in the 1810s and was involved in a successful military campaign against the neighbouring Uruguayan city of Montevideo.
Brown was to become a national hero in Argentina after the Brazilian Empire declared war in the mid-1820s. Now known in the region as Guillermo Brown, he was made Major Colonel and led the 4 ships and 7 gunboats of the Argentine Navy against the 31 ships at Brazil's disposal. Incredibly, the Argentine forces defeated the Brazilian navy after over a year of fighting, and Brown would later lead them to a similar victory against the odds against the might of England and France the following decade.
Upon returning home to Ireland in the 1840s, Brown was a witness to the horrors of the Famine, and donated significant funds to aid those in need in Ireland.
He died in 1857 at the age of 80, a hero on either side of the Atlantic. The official resolution of his death in Argentina read,
[Brown] symbolizes the naval glories of the Argentine Republic and whose life has been constantly dedicated to public service in the national wars that our country has sustained since the time of Independence.
At Brown's funeral, General Mitre said, "In life, Brown, standing on the stern of his ship, was worth an entire fleet to us."
The county Mayo man is one of Argentina's greatest national heroes.
Why is it awarded for Ireland v Argentina?
The shared Irish and Argentine roots of Admiral William Brown made him an apt man to name the cup after. The initiative to introduce a trophy for the fixture was realised by the two countries embassies and rugby unions, after a movement by the Admiral Brown Society of Foxford - his home town in Mayo, where annual commemorations in his honour take place.
The trophy is only contested in test matches, meaning that World Cup clashes do not see the cup awarded. Quaintly, the sides have played seven times since the trophy's inception 12 years ago, with Ireland winning six - the only game Argentina have won in that time was in the World Cup, knocking Ireland out at the 2015 quarter-final stage.
18 October 2015; Rob Kearney, Ireland, leaves the pitch after the game. 2015 Rugby World Cup Quarter-Final, Ireland v Argentina. Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales. Picture credit: Brendan Moran / SPORTSFILE
As to why this fixture needs a trophy in the first place...that's another question altogether. Maybe its inception was purely to pay tribute to Admiral Brown, though the Six Nations has shown us that rugby's test nations need no excuse to invent yet another trophy nobody was really asking for.
Either way, we'll know by around 10pm on Friday evening who has won the Admiral Brown Cup - and whether Argentina can wrestle it from Ireland's grasp for the first time.
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