Ireland Wrap Up Series Win In Argentina

A workmanlike two-try victory saw Ireland retain the Admiral William Brown Cup as they beat Argentina in a hard-fought second Test in Tucumán.

IRFU LIVE BLOG: ARGENTINA 17 IRELAND 23

Simon Zebo and replacement Ian Madigan scored second half tries as Joe Schmidt’s side secured Ireland’s first Test series win in Argentina.

Those converted scores, added to three first half penalties from Jonathan Sexton, put Ireland out of the Pumas’ reach in their final international of a rewarding first season under Schmidt.

Rhys Ruddock, making his first start in the Irish back row, looked right at home during an abrasive display while the returning Zebo took his try well and the bench again made an impact.

Although pleased with another away success, the Irish camp will be frustrated with what was a patchy performance and credit must go to Argentina for making it a tough afternoon at the office for the tourists.

As seen in the first Test, Argentina thrive on counter-attacking opportunities and a thrilling try – initiated by excellent scrum half Martin Landajo in his own 22 – was finished with aplomb by full-back Joaquín Tuculet in the 25th minute.

That gave Argentina a 10-9 advantage to take into the interval, but a ‘third quarter push’ saw Ireland wrestle back the lead with Eoin Reddan and Zebo combining in slick fashion for a 51st minute try which Sexton converted.

Madigan came on for Sexton, who had collided with Argentinian hooker Santiago Iglesias Valdes, and sent a long range penalty wide as Ireland remained six points to the good.

But the 25-year-old settled the issue with his first Test try in the 73rd minute – thanks to a timely step off his left that unlocked the Argentinian defence – and converted from in front of the posts.

James Cronin, Noel Reid and Rob Herring all came on to make their debuts in the dying minutes, with young scrum half Kieran Marmion winning his second cap of the summer tour.

Argentina gained some late consolation when the lively Lucas Amorosino slipped by Marmion to turn scrum possession into a seven-pointer for the spirited hosts.

Head coach Schmidt told Sky Sports afterwards: “Anyone watching would have seen it as an exercise in frustration. It was very difficult to get any continuity going and it made the job very, very difficult.

“Even when we did get them right under pressure, often we got penalties, okay…but it does certainly stifle the openness of the game when you’re being pressured all the time.

“It was our first win in Argentina in a Test match series. We’re delighted with the result, but we know that won’t be anywhere good enough when we come to playing South Africa in November. The GUINNESS Series is going to be really tough, following that with Georgia and Australia.”

He added: “We had six new caps on tour, they will have learned a lot…and a lot of other guys had two, three, four caps.

“I felt today we had a really experienced spine in the team and we probably should have offered a little bit more continuity. It’s probably a disappointing performance by our standards.

“We’ll have a bit of a rest now and dust ourselves off, and try to approach the GUINNESS Series still with a bit of positivity because it was not that long ago that we were playing probably at the top of our game in the Six Nations.”

There was very little wrong with Ireland’s start at Estadio José Fierro, an early scrum penalty inviting them forward – a trend continued from the opening game – and a subsequent ruck infringement allowed Sexton to boot the visitors in front in the fifth minute.

Sexton almost provided the assist for the opening try soon after as he dangled a kick in Zebo’s direction, but the winger unfortunately had a foot in touch before he could exploit the space.

Ireland continued to force the issue with Reddan’s inside pass seeing Rob Kearney threaten in the 22. The early raft of penalties culminated in Argentinian hooker Matias Cortese seeing yellow for a no-arms tackle on Dave Kilcoyne.

The resulting 10th minute penalty was converted by Sexton for a 6-0 lead, but Ireland failed to convert a lineout in the Argentinian 22 into further points as the 14-man Pumas held them at bay.

On the quarter hour mark, Nicolas Sanchez launched the hosts downfield with an intelligent grubber kick and Jeronimo de la Fuente also hacked on. The sudden attack spelt danger for Ireland and Andrew Trimble’s early tackle on Manuel Montero earned him a yellow card.

Ireland blew an opportunity to reply to Sanchez’s successful penalty. Sexton went the aerial route again to find Zebo whose chip through forced a close-in scrum. Paul O’Connell turned down a kickable three points on two occasions and the decision backfired as Jamie Heaslip’s pass off the side of a scrum to Chris Henry was ruled forward.

Worse followed for the visitors from the Pumas’ put-in as Argentina captain Landajo was allowed to break free from his 22. He sold a dummy to Darren Cave and linked with Amorosino who was reeled in near the right touchline by the chasing Zebo.

Argentina managed to recycle quickly and the ball was shifted to the left where Tuculet stepped inside Henry to run in a try inspired by Landajo’s adventure and eye for a gap. Sanchez converted for a 10-6 scoreline.

Ireland got back on track thanks to two meaty carries from Ruddock in advanced positions, while the returning Trimble threatened on a kick chase.

The net result saw Sexton reduce the arrears to a single point, punishing the Pumas for not releasing the tackled Heaslip on the deck.

Ireland looked to go up a gear as Devin Toner and Heaslip won turnover ball via a choke tackle and Reddan sent Kearney charging through on a fine run up the middle of the pitch. But the move broke down as a Sexton kick did not go to plan and Tuculet and Amorosino initiated a terrific counter, with Zebo required to bring down the advancing winger again.

It was nip and tuck leading up to half-time with Ireland exerting more control from their well-structured advances – they should have profited from a lineout maul late on – but Argentina’s pace on the breakout had Kearney scrambling back to smother a kick.

Sexton pushed a penalty wide of the posts, early in the second period, to let the Pumas off the hook and Toner’s replacement Iain Henderson actually made too many yards as he got detached from his support and Ireland lost a promising position.

Nevertheless, Trimble regained lost ground by gathering Sexton’s cross-field kick and then collecting his own chip over Montero.

A Kearney kick on the left was then deflected into touch and from the lineout maul, Reddan peeled off to the right before popping the ball back for the onrushing Zebo to slice straight through and go in behind the posts for a converted try – his third for Ireland.

Ruddock combined brute strength with a timely offload as he bashed into contact, got over the gainline and sent the supporting Cave darting towards the try-line – only for Amorosino to haul him down near the whitewash and the Ulsterman was pinged for holding on.

Had Cave scored, it might have killed off the Argentinian challenge but they kept themselves in contention through a scrappy spell entering the final quarter during which Ireland failed to make full use of a scrum just outside the hosts’ 22 along with a Fergus McFadden break.

Fresh legs were called for with Jordi Murphy, Jack McGrath and Madigan all entering the fray. McGrath slotted in at loosehead and helped Ireland drive Argentina off their own scrum ball, setting up a clearing penalty from the 22.

Ireland’s error count increased in the closing stages and Sanchez managed to rip the ball free from Heaslip’s grasp as Argentina maintained a doughty resistance. They were no doubt spurred on by a Madigan penalty miss too.

But the issue with settled with seven minutes to go. O’Connell turned down a shot at the posts in favour of a lineout. The maul was held up and Murphy, McGrath and Best all went close before Madigan’s fantastic footwork in midfield took him past two tacklers, as well as the covering Tomas Cubelli, to score the decisive seven-pointer.

The Irish bench was emptied with Cronin added to the front row and fellow new caps Reid and Herring also getting late run-outs, albeit that the Ulster hooker had to fill in for Ruddock at blindside flanker.

Argentina set up camp in the Irish 22 for the conclusion and their hard work was rewarded with a second try of the afternoon, Amorosino exposing a couple of missed tackles after linking with Cubelli from a scrum.