Nov 17,2024
If Andy Farrell wanted a big response from his side following last week's defeat to New Zealand, he got one against Argentina, although not for the full 80 minutes.
Ireland were 22-19 winners against Los Pumas in a thrilling game at Aviva Stadium, the kind of night where they could have won by a lot more, but also one which they could very easily have lost.
Farrell summed it up well afterwards with his summary that it was "three or four games in one", and lamented his side's poor discipline, which once again allowed their opponents keep the scoreboard ticking over.
It was a remarkably similar game to their second Test win against South Africa in the summer, where they flew off the blocks early in the game, and played some of their best rugby of the year in the opening half-hour, building up a 22-9 lead by the 32nd minute, before allowing Argentina back into the game in a poor third quarter.
By full-time, they were left clinging on, but after the sloppiness and lethargy of last week's defeat to the All Blacks, it was a night where the result was probably more important than the performance.
"A win is a win," was Robbie Henshaw's immediate thought after the game.
"It was vitally important we got a win this week especially considering how last week went.
"Obviously it wasn't perfect. It was a tricky kind of second half. We felt very good in the first half.
"It felt like we flowing and then I think, through little bits of indiscipline, the penalty count again probably stopped us in our stride and gave Argentina a bit of momentum in the second half. Look, loads to work on but I suppose a win is a win.
"I think we were putting pressure on them in how we were attacking them in our phase play. We had good, quick ball and we were playing on the front foot and playing to space as well so a lot of the things that we worked at during the week was coming out in the first half.
"We scored a couple of nice tries as well as one disallowed in the corner. Yeah, again, probably a little bit of mental switch off as well in that second half, gave them a little bit of relief to come back.
"It's all about winning for us. The old saying is good teams always find a way to win, no matter what's going on in the game, and I think that was vitally important."
The Leinster centre started ahead of Bundee Aki in the only change from last week's defeat, and impressed in his 62 minutes, with 13 carries and eight offloads, and giving Ireland a lot of gainline success, particularly in that excellent first 30 minutes.
It was just a second outing of the season for the 31-year-old after he picked up a minor injury late in pre-season, and while he believes there were elements of his game that needed to be sharper, he was pleased with his contribution.
"Yeah, felt good first half, it's always tough coming back into an international game, your first game is always going to be tough," he said.
"I felt good in the game but plenty more for me to work on and to get better at.
"I slipped off a few tackles in the first half in particular so a bit to clean up there and the lungs as well were in for a bit of a shock towards the end of the second half. So building on match fitness is probably a priority for me as well.
"I suppose you need to build up your game time before coming in, it's always very tough to come in from the cold and play in an international.
"That's been tricky for me with a couple of niggles I had in pre-season but fingers crossed I'll get a good run over the next few weeks and kick on."
Like Farrell, Henshaw cited poor discipline as the main area that's holding Ireland back, but with two more games to come in this international window, he's confident those creases in their game can be ironed out.
"I'll have to look back on it but a lot of it is in our own control. We give away some penalties in that second half, it gives them access, they get a try and get their heads up.
"Again, how we manage getting out of our own half, we seem to run a little bit when we could have applied a bit more pressure with territory so we've loads to work on and we'll be challenged to get better again from this."
