Ireland outslug Argentina in borefest

Ireland beat 2007 World Cup semifinalists Argentina 29-9 in a dour one-off Test at Lansdowne Road on Sunday.

There was nothing warming about this Sunday match in Dublin, unless Ireland’s victory over Argentina warmed the hearts – though it was not worth the final score.

There was nothing to take the mind off the icy chill of Ireland’s economic problems.

It was a desultory match. In fact the second half was positively dreary as Argentina outscore Ireland 6-3 till injury time. A crowd of 30 406 had braved the cold to get to the posh new stadium. One wonders how many thought the effort worthwhile.

There was no lack of endeavour, especially by the ardent Argentinians, but at times their ardour let them down. Rodrigo Roncero played with might and main, but conceded six of his side’s eight penalties in the first half. Things were better when he limped off, but he had done much to destroy his side’s chances as Ireland led 19-3 at the break.

The next negative for Argentina was their kicking at goal. They missed three penalty shots and two straightforward drop attempts. 15 points at 22-9 make a considerable difference. By contrast Jonny Sexton’s kicking was immaculate. His last one was from 50 metres out. Felipe Contepomi found it hard to gaol from much, much closer.

The battle up front was fairly even in the first half, but in the second half Argentina dominated possession.

However, the old Puma problem was back – what to do with the ball when you have it.

Their cause was not helped by scrumhalf Nicolas Vergallo, who firmly believed that the slower the ball the better. In sharp contrast to this Peter Stringer wanted the ball as quick as possible and when he was firing it away quickly Ireland were at their best and their first try resulted. Slow ball for the Pumas resulted in repeated bits of pick-and-go till they lost the ball or were penalised. Grunt was their best weapon.

It nearly brought them an early score as they drove a maul from a line-out at speed for 20 metres till it bundled (was bundled?) to ground just before their line. Play then stayed fixed for over five minutes on that spot with a mixture of scrums, penalties and resets till Ireland wheeled and managed to extricate themselves.

Then there was the difference in centre play. Gordon D’Arcy and Brian O’Driscoll were a long way better their opponents in positional play, skill and creativity. Marcelo Bosch in particular looked at sea. Nobody tried harder than Contepomi, for a six years a resident in Dublin. In fact he probably tried too hard, took too much good ball for himself and was too easily bottled up.

Gordon D’Arcy produced the first break of the match, a clean one off a turnover that broke the shackles on Ireland and turned stern defence into exciting attack. D’Arcy ended the match with a delightful bit of chip-and-gather for the try that ended the match.

Ireland did best with the ball in hand and were awful in the second half when they kicked the ball away. Geordan Murphy had splendid moments in starting counterattacks but gave it up eventually.

The first time Roncero was penalised, Sexton goaled. 3-0 after 13 minutes.

Then came the try. Ireland went left and then got quick ball at a tackle/ruck. Stringer sent the ball out quickly, Tommy Bowe ran a clever angle and gave the gentlest of passes to Jamie Heaslip to put the big No.8 into a gap. That left Stephen Ferris free on the right wing and the big flank was over for a splendid try. 10-0. There would not be the semblance of a try for the next icy hour.

In the rest of the first half Sexton kicked three penalties and Contepomi one. 19-3 at half-time

There was a burst by Sean Cronin and another by Juan Figallo and then a sinuous run by Lucas Amorosino. But nothing else of interest.

Contepomi kicked a penalty and then Sexton kicked a penalty and then Contepomi kicked a penalty. It was not exciting.

When Álvaro Galindo came on at scrumhalf the Pumas were better for his quick pass.

Then a penalty got Ireland into the Argentinian half and Ronan O’Gara chipped to his right. Tommy Bowe footed into ingoal where Keith Earls and Alfredo Lalanne dived for the ball. Somewhat surprisingly the TMO decided that Bowe had knocked on, but Ireland stayed on the attack and D’Arcy chipped and scored to end the match.

Man of the Match: The two players who made the biggest difference between the two sides were Peter Stringer and Gordon D’Arcy. D’Arcy lasted longer and scored that delightful try. Gordon D’Arcy is our Man of the Match.

Moment of the Match: We are giving it to Stephen Ferris’s try. It had so much class to it.

Villain of the Match: Our award goes to Rodrigo Roncero. One could be forgiven for believing he was a fifth columnist.

The scorers:

For Ireland:
Tries: Ferris, D’Arcy
Cons: Sexton, O’Gara
Pens: Sexton 5

For Argentina:
Pens: Contepomi 3

Teams:

Ireland: 15 Geordan Murphy, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Brian O’Driscoll (captain), 12 Gordon D’Arcy, 11 Andrew Trimble, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Peter Stringer, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 David Wallace, 6 Stephen Ferris, 5 Mick O’Driscoll, 4 Donncha O’Callaghan, 3 Tony Buckley, 2 Sean Cronin, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements: 16 Damien Varley, 17 Tom Court, 18 Devin Toner, 19 Denis Leamy, 20 Eoin Reddan, 21 Ronan O’Gara, 22 Keith Earls.

Argentina: 15 Martin Rodriguez, 14 Horacio Agulla, 13 Gonzalo Tiesi, 12 Marcelo Bosch, 11 Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino, 10 Felipe Contepomi (captain), 9 Nicolas Vergallo, 8 Juan Fernandez Lobbe, 7 Julio Farias Cabello, 6 Genaro Fessia, 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Mariano Galarza, 3 Martín Scelzo, 2 Mario Ledesma, 1 Rodrigo Roncero.
Replacements: 16 Agustin Creevy, 17 Marcos Ayerza, 18 Juan Figallo, 19 Santiago Guzmán, 20 Álvaro Galindo, 21 Alfredo Lalanne, 22 Lucas Borges.

Referee: Mark Lawrence (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Nigel Owens (Wales), Stuart Terheege (England)
TMO: Daniel Gillet (France)