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The pendulum swung back and forth in Dublin; but, ultimately Ireland held on to defeat Argentina. The 22-19 victory sees the Irish retaining their status as the only Tier 1 team not to have been beaten at home by Los Pumas.
The bulk of Ireland’s points came early; indeed, Ireland went scoreless in the second-half. Irish pressure early had Argentina charged-down twice in the opening minute. Los Pumas were deep in their 22 but found a way out. Bautista Delguy picked up and ran with Matías Moroni scoring in the left corner. However, the try that had been given, was not to be as play went back to see Moroni yellow carded for shoulder to head contact in a tackle.
Ireland scored instead. After a lineout to maul attack, Jack Crowley sliced through the defense to score. His try came where Moroni would likely have been defending. Crowley converted his own try for a 7-0 lead after 5 minutes.
One try became two minutes later. A loose ball saw Garry Ringrose and Gonzalo Bertranou both going for it. The Irishman gathered and ran into the hole made his Bertranou. Ringrose combined with Mack Hansen to put the Australian over in the left corner. Ireland led 12-0 after 7 minutes.
Critics of Argentina’s inconsistent performance and results may have been telling themselves “here we go again.” Notwithstanding, they would also have been happy to have seen a combative Pumas performance for the remainder of the contest.
Tomás Albornoz scored 14 points for Los Pumas. His first score came on 12 minutes via a penalty goal. It came with Moroni’s yellow carded officially being confirmed as a yellow and not a red card. It was deemed as not being a high degree of danger. Three other such instances occurred during the match.
The Irish hit-back smartly through Tadhg Beirne. The Flanker’s 16th minute try was given by referee Paul Williams after assistant Angus Mabey gave him a thumbs-up. However, TMO Richard Kelly showed that Beirne had, in fact, knocked the ball on.
Back in possession, Argentina attacked down the left. A retreating Ireland went down to 14-men for 10 minutes with Finlay Bealham yellow carded for a croc-role on Joel Sclavi. Albornoz landed a long-range penalty, from 42 meters in the final scoring act of the opening quarter.
Ireland hit-back through Crowley. The fly half slotted a drop-goal from 38 meters out. Albornoz responded with his third penalty of the match, again landing it from a wide angle and this time at a distance of 43 meters.
A tactic used by the Irish was to ping Argentina back following kick-off’s. It again led to Ireland having another scoring opportunity. Try number three came on 29 minutes. Ireland attacked from a lineout which Argentina defended well before being penalized again. This time Ireland scored with Joe McCarthy dotting down in the try zone. Ireland were up 22-9.
On 38 minutes Julián Montoya turned down a shot at goal for the first time in the match. Ireland defended raids following a Pumas lineout. Juan Martín González was held up inside the try zone. A second penalty, nonetheless, came. Ireland conceded a third and with it came a yellow card warning. Ireland responded to the pressure to hold out Argentina with the whistle blown for half-time after Joaquín Oviedo went close to scoring.
The opening half statistics favored Ireland. Los Pumas completed 106 tackles compared to 91 by Ireland. In addition, the Irish had 53% possession and 54% territory. Argentina needed to change this in the second-half and did so.
Continuing his outstanding year with Los Pumas, el cordobes, Juan Cruz Mallía scored six minutes in to the second half. Mallía made a clean line break and broke four tackles, including beating both wingers. Albornoz converted for a 22-16 scoreline.
Mounting penalties against Ireland resulted in referee Paul Williams yellow carding McCarthy. Albornoz slotted the penalty in what turned out to be the final scoring act of the match. He narrowly missed a drop-goal on 56 minutes which would have leveled the scores.
Argentina’s third quarter fightback came with the South Americans having 73% possession. The fourth quarter was back-and-forward as the match went down to the wire. A historic moment came in the 67th minute with Cian Healy entering as a replacement. Healy earned his 133rd test cap to match the record held by World Rugby Hall of Famer Brian O’Driscoll.
Ireland were in scoring range on 68 minutes. Ireland got to within seven meters of the try zone and went for a lineout to maul move. Raids followed with Argentina defending 15 phases before winning a turn-over. The pressure was fa from over, though, as Ireland had another opportunity before Santiago Carreras won a turnover penalty.
Los Pumas ended the match with 14-men. Francisco Gómez Kodela was yellow carded for shoulder to head contact at a clean-out on Caelan Doris. Argentina defended during a fierce two minute period which culminated with Joaquín Oviedo winning a turnover.
With time up, Argentina had a lineout on center field. Los Pumas attacked with Gonzalo García passing the ball far and wide. Juan Martín González made a line break which got Argentina well inside Irish territory. After thirteen phases, full-time was blown for an Argentine knock-on.
Both Ireland and Argentina will be in action again next weekend. Ireland play host to Fiji in Dublin on Saturday, November 23. Argentina take on France in Paris on Saturday, November 22. Both Fiji and France will play matches on Saturday, November 16. France face New Zealand in Paris while Fiji take-on Spain in Valladolid.
| SCORING |
IRELAND (22)
TRY – J Crowley (4′); M Hansen (7′); J McCarthy (29′)
CON – J Crowley (5′)
DG – J Crowley (21′)
YC – F Bealham (17′); J McCarthy (50′)
ARGENTINA (19)
TRY – JC Mallía (45′)
CON – T Albornoz (45′)
PEN – T Albornoz (12′, 17′, 26′, 50′)
YC – M Moroni (3′); F Gómez Kodela (76′)
| LINE-UPS |
IRELAND
1 Andrew Porter, 2 Rónan Kelleher, 3 Finlay Bealham, 4 Joe McCarthy, 5 James Ryan, 6 Tadhg Beirne, 7 Josh van der Flier, 8 Caelan Doris (capt.), 9 Jamison Ratu Gibson-Park, 10 Jack Crowley, 11 James Lowe, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 13 Garry Ringrose, 14 Mack Hansen, 15 Hugo Keenan
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
1 Thomas Gallo, 2 Julián Montoya (capt.), 3 Joel Sclavi, 4 Guido Petti, 5 Pedro Rubiolo, 6 Pablo Matera (vice-capt.), 7 Juan Martín González, 8 Joaquín Oviedo, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 10 Tomás Albornoz, 11 Bautista Delguy, 12 Matías Moroni 13 Lucio Cinti, 14 Rodrigo Isgró, 15 Juan Cruz Mallía (vice-capt.)
Replacements: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Ignacio Calles, 18 Francisco Gómez Kodela, 19 Franco Molina, 20 Santiago Grondona, 21 Gonzalo García, 22 Santiago Carreras, 23 Justo Piccardo*
* Debut
| MATCH HIGHLIGHTS |
| MATCH OFFICIALS |
Referee: Paul Williams (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees: Craig Evans (Wales), Angus Mabey (New Zealand)
TMO: Richard Kelly (New Zealand)
Bunker: Andrew Jackson (England)
