Pumas crash to record defeat in Dublin

Argentina crashed to their worst ever defeat against Ireland on Sunday with the final score reading 53-7 to their hosts at Aviva Stadium. Los Pumas got off to a quick start but then failed to score a single point in an abysmal outing that will once again put the position of Mario Ledesma as Head Coach under question.

Thomas Gallo took out two defenders and managed to offload to Santiago Grondona. One connecting pass from Jeromino de la Fuente later and the Irish cover was all at sea, with Mateo Carreras slicing back across the grain for a clear run to the line. Emiliano Boffelli added the conversion to make it 7-nil to Los Pumas.

Discipline cost Argentina their lead with 10 points scored in rapid succession. Joey Carbery knocked over a penalty goal and then added a conversion to a Josh van der Flier try. It came through a driving maul, with Tadhg Beirne snaring the lineout throw despite the attention of Guido Petti.

Straight hands put Ireland in behind the Argentine defense from a scrum on halfway. Another penalty conceded an attacking lineout and while this time the maul was repelled, the Irish forwards thumped ahead until Andrew Porter crashed through under the posts for an easy seven.

Boffelli somehow pushed what should have been an easy three points wide of the posts near the half-hour mark. He got an immediate chance to redeem himself, this time from straight in front of the upright, but again the radar was off and Argentina had nothing to show for their efforts

Santiago Carreras did well to take a high ball and moments later brother Mateo produced a scintillating break that looked a certain try. A last-ditch tackle attempt from Porter did just enough to throw off the balance of Carreras and the winger dropped the ball, injuring himself in the process with Facundo Cordero coming onto the field.

The home side fired back and again there was no mystery with simple passing and support play causing problems for the Argentine defense. Caelan Doris was met by both Francisco Gómez Kodela and Pablo Matera but neither grasped the Irish No8, and he bounced off and through Tomás Cubelli for a try just before halftime.

Accuracy continued to elude Los Pumas with two consecutive lineout throws from Julián Montoya askew. A line break from Ryan Baird put them on the back foot, and then a deliberate knock-on from Pablo Matera left Argentina a man down for 10 minutes. At the same time Carbery chipped over another three.

Any hope of a comeback was gone when van der Flier scored his second try. Montoya conceded a breakdown penalty and with the field position the men in green kept the pressure on until the score emerged. Moments later Tomás Lavanini was sent off for a reckless assault on Cian Healy at a ruck, and the final 20 minutes would see Los Pumas playing with 14 men.

Healy would get his reply on the scoreboard but not before replacement hooker Dan Sheehan peeled off a maul to score Ireland’s fifth try. A seven would come before full-time through Tadhg Beirne, with Carbery’s only slip off the tee coming last as the ball rang off the left upright.

Following an unbeaten July test series including a series win over Wales, Los Pumas have slipped badly with only last weekend’s win over Italy among eight defeats. During those nine tests they have scored 117 points with 293 against. It remains to be see how the UAR will respond to the disappointing results.

 

 

SCORING

IRELAND 53
Tries – J. van der Flier 2 (10′, 57′), A. Porter (23′), C. Doris (37′), D. Sheehan (66′), C. Healy (72′), T. Beirne (76′)
Cons – J. Carbery 6/7 (11′, 24′, 38′, 58′, 67′, 73′)
Pens – J. Carbery 2/2 (6′, 49′)

ARGENTINA 7
Tries – M. Carreras (3′)
Cons – E. Boffelli 1/1 (4′)
Pens – E. Boffelli 0/2
YC – P. Matera (48′)
RC – T. Lavanini (60′)

 

TEAMS

IRELAND
1 Andrew Porter (17 Cian Healy 58′), 2 Ronan Kelleher (16 Dan Sheehan 50′), 3 Tadhg Furlong (18 Tom O’Toole 58′), 4 Tadhg Beirne, 5 James Ryan (capt.) (19 Ryan Baird 38′), 6 Peter O’Mahony, 7 Josh van der Flier (20 Nick Timoney 60′), 8 Caelan Doris, 9 Conor Murray (21 Craig Casey 50′), 10 Joey Carbery, 11 James Lowe, 12 Robbie Henshaw (23 Keith Earls 66′), 13 Garry Ringrose, 14 Robert Baloucoune, 15 Hugo Keenan (22 Harry Byrne 50′)

ARGENTINA
1 Thomas Gallo (17 Ignacio Calles 46′), 2 Julián Montoya (capt.) (16 Facundo Bosch 73′), 3 Francisco Gómez Kodela (18 Eduardo Bello 60′), 4 Guido Petti (19 Lucas Paulos 48′), 5 Tomás Lavanini, 6 Santiago Grondona, 7 Marcos Kremer (20 Facundo Isa 58′), 8 Pablo Matera, 9 Tomás Cubelli (21 Gonzalo Bertranou 46′), 10 Santiago Carreras (22 Nicolás Sánchez 60′), 11 Lucio Cinti 12 Jerónimo de la Fuente, 13 Matías Moroni, 14 Mateo Carreras (23 Facundo Cordero 34′), 15 Emiliano Boffelli

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Matthew Carley (England)
Assistant Referees: Christophe Ridley (England) & Adam Leal (England)
TMO: Tom Foley (England)