Pumas Fall to Ireland as Pressure Builds on Daniel Hourcade

Los Pumas fell to Ireland this afternoon, adding pressure to the case to replace Daniel Hourcade as Head Coach. The 28-19 defeat brings an end to a year in which Argentina won two games but lost 10. The wins came against Georgia and Italy, teams outside of the world’s Top 10.

Two years ago Argentina faced Ireland in Wales. The match was a Rugby World Cup Quarter Final and Los Pumas came out on top. Not only were they the winners but they had outperformed Ireland, scoring four brilliant tries.

Today’s performance was vastly different. Ireland entered as 4th in the World Rankings, 6 spots ahead of Argentina. The respective rankings are a reflection of their performances since 2015. While Argentina has struggled the Irish have beaten England, New Zealand and South Africa.

Ireland’s win today ensured their unbeaten record at home against Argentina remains. Yet records were not key to the match as realistically Argentina never looked like winning. Like against Italy a week ago it was the injection of replacements that made a difference.

Hourcade went to the bench following his team’s opening score. The second half try was from Joaquín Tuculet who chased down a kick to touch it down. It made it a 20-7 scoreline. From there Argentina would score two more tries, having the better of play.

Guido Petti offered more pace than Matías Alemanno, Gonzalo Bertranou was sharper, more accurate and had greater direction than Martín Landajo, Santiago González Iglesias was outplayed but Jerónimo de la Fuente was not while Julián Montoya was fresh and simply better than captain Agustín Creevy.

Also featuring from the bench was Juan Manuel Leguizamón. The veteran no 8 would score Argentina’s second try. It was a well-taken try yet came with Ireland already assured of a victory.

Ireland’s triumph was about both the players and coaches performances. The opening try was from a set-move and came from inside Irish territory. Winger Jacob Stockdale caught Santiago González Iglesias napping to make a clean break. It raised the question of whether or not Argentina has better players as González Iglesias conceded a similar try against Australia this year.

Stockdale was also the man who scored Ireland’s second. He again cut through the Pumas defense with the South Africans simply being unable to mark the player correctly. It put the men in green 20-0 ahead.

Tuculet’s try was next before Ireland regrouped to send CJ Stander powering over from an attacking maul. The fullback would link with Leguizamón for his try. It saw Ireland looking to wrap-up by kicking goals which saw Jonny Sexton delivering for his country.

In the final minutes there was time for a try to Ramiro Moyano. It was scored from more than 100 meters with it almost being the try of the year. Having run from within their own goal-area, Moyano broke down the left flank only to be tackled in Irish territory. Argentina won a penalty and continued attacking.

It finished off with Bertranou underlining himself as a potential player for greater game time in 2018 by kicking the ball through for Moyano to score. Questions over who should be in the team will continue to be raised. For now the players head into their summer break. They return to play under Mario Ledesma in Jaguares colors in January.

SCORING
IRELAND
Try: Stockdale (2), Stander,
Conversion: Sexton (2)
Penalty: Sexton (3)

ARGENTINA
Try: Tuculet, Leguizamón, Moyano
Conversion: Sánchez (2)

IRELAND
15 Rob Kearney, 14 Adam Byrne, 13 Chris Farrell, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Conor Murray, 8 CJ Stander, 7 Sean O’Brien, 6 Peter O’Mahony, 5 Iain Henderson, 4 James Ryan, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Rory Best (capt.), 1 Cian Healy

Replacements: 16 James Tracy, 17 David Kilcoyne, 18 John Ryan, 19 Devin Toner, 20 Rhys Ruddock, 21 Luke McGrath, 22 Ian Keatley, 23 Andrew Conway

ARGENTINA
15 Joaquín Tuculet, 14 Ramiro Moyano, 13 Matías Moroni, 12 Santiago González Iglesias, 11 Emiliano Boffelli, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 9 Martín Landajo, 8 Tomás Lezana, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Tomás Lavanini, 4 Matías Alemanno, 3 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 2 Agustín Creevy (capt.), 1 Santiago García Botta

Replacements: 16 Julián Montoya, 17 Lucas Noguera Paz, 18 Enrique Pieretto, 19 Guido Petti, 20 Juan Manuel Leguizamón, 21 Gonzalo Bertranou, 22 Jerónimo de la Fuente, 23 Sebastián Cancelliere