Ireland bounced back from their second home loss under Andy Farrell to defeat Argentina 22-19 at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Friday evening.
Jack Crowley led the charge for the hosts in the Autumn Nations Series encounter scoring 12 points including a try, a drop goal and two conversions while Mack Hansen and man of the match Joe McCarthy also crossed the whitewash.
For Argentina, Tomas Al𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧oz continued his stunning form in 2024 nailing all five of his shots at goal – four penalties and a conversion – while Juan Cruz Mallia scored Los Pumas’ only try of the match.
After losing their opening November international to the All Blacks, Farrell’s charges bounced back with a hard-fought and unconvincing victory over the Pumas who produced an inspired performance.
Ireland looked to apply pressure early on after a charge down following the restart but Argentina forced a turnover and cantered upfield with Argentina winger Bautista Delguy beating several defenders before Matias Moroni crossed the whitewash. However, the try was chalked off after Moroni was judged to have tackled fly-half Crowley high and was sent to the sin bin with his tackle also being reviewed.
Andy Farrell’s charges quickly pounced and made the most of the man advantage as they struck from the resulting lineout with Rónan Kelleher powering off the back of a slick lineout move and moments later it was Crowley who forced his way over for his first-ever Test try which he duly converted.
Ireland scored their second try in just six minutes when Garry Ringrose tore through the defence after a spilt ball and raced into the Argentina 22. Jamison Gibson-Park whipped a wide pass to Tadhg Beirne who unselfishly passed in side to Hansen to score his first try of the year after making his return from injury against New Zealand a week ago.
Moroni breathed a sigh of relief as his yellow card was not upgraded to a red one by the Foul Play Review Officer as they judged that it was a low level of danger allowing the centre to return to the action with Argentina down 12-3 after Al𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧oz converted a penalty moments before he returned.
Ireland looked to have gone even further ahead as Robbie Henshaw manufactured a stunning try-scoring opportunity only for the ever-impressive Beirne to spill the ball over the line with Moroni again involved with the Irish forward losing his control of the ball on the centre’s upper body.
In a helter-skelter 16 minutes, it was Ireland’s turn to go down a man as tighthead prop Finlay Bealham was sent to the sidelines for a croc roll on his opposite number Joel Sclavi – and Al𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧oz added another penalty – with his card also remaining yellow after an off-field review. Ireland’s response came through Crowley again as the pivot nailed a drop goal to cancel out Los Pumas’ penalty on 21 minutes. Kelleher ran an obstruction line four minutes later, allowing Al𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧oz another shot at reducing the lead and he duly took it.
McCarthy barged over for Ireland’s third when they were back to 15 men as James Lowe snuck through the smallest of holes after a lineout and the second rower crashed over as Ireland went 22-9 up after 32 minutes.
Argentina applied the pressure in the final moments of the half twice coming close to scoring a late try but were denied once by the bounce of the ball and another time by Beirne holding up the ball carrier, a turnover with the clocking going red denied the visitors as Ireland held a 13 point advantage at the break.
Argentina come out firing
After the break, it was the Pumas who drew first blood as Mallia scathed through the initial defence before racing into the Ireland 22 and skinned Hansen with a superb step to score the South American side’s first try of the game and cut the lead to six points. Ireland were put under the pump in the early knockings of the second half and McCarthy paid the price after he was caught offside and was sent to the bin. From the resulting penalty, Al𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧oz made it a three-point game.
There was no change to the score line for the next 20 minutes, with both sides enjoying long passages of play with the ball in hand, particularly Ireland with Farrell’s men notably turning down a shot at goal in order to run a set move from a tap and go – they set a rolling maul from the tap but Argentina stalled them and turned the ball over a few phases later.
Momentum looked to have swung in Los Pumas’ favour after that turnover and a later pilfer at a breakdown but that was undone by a horrid Francisco Gomez Kodela clearout that resulted in the replacement prop being yellow-carded. While the prop was off for the remainder of the match, his actions were deemed not to warrant a red card.
Ireland again went on the offensive but were denied by another breakdown pilfer giving the Pumas another shot at a famous victory, but Contepomi’s charges came up short despite working their way deep into the host’s 22 but they were shut out as the clock went into the red.
The teams
Ireland: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Mack Hansen, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 James Lowe, 10 Jack Crowley, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Caelan Doris (c), 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Tadhg Beirne, 5 James Ryan, 4 Joe McCarthy, 3 Finlay Bealham, 2 Rónan Kelleher, 1 Andrew Porter
Replacements: 16 Rob Herring, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Thomas Clarkson, 19 Ryan Baird, 20 Peter O’Mahony, 21 Craig Casey, 22 Sam Prendergast, 23 Jamie Os𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧e
Argentina: 15 Juan Cruz Mallia, 14 Rodrigo Isgro, 13 Lucio Cinti, 12 Matias Moroni, 11 Bautista Delguy, 10 Tomas Al𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧oz, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 8 Joaquin Oviedo, 7 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Pedro Rubiolo, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Joel Sclavi, 2 Julián Montoya, 1 Thomas Gallo
Replacements: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Ignacio Calles, 18 Francisco Gomez Kodela, 19 Franco Molina, 20 Santiago Grondona, 21 Gonzalo Garcia, 22 Santiago Carreras, 23 Justo Piccardo
Date: Friday, November 15
Venue: Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Kick-off: 20:10 GMT
Referee: Paul Williams (NZR)
Assistant Referees: Craig Evans (WRU), Angus Mabey (NZR)
TMO: Richard Kelly (NZR)
