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'We're still trying to find our feet'

REACTION: Ireland may have bounced back from the loss to New Zealand by edging Argentina 22-19 in a nailbiting Test at Lansdowne Road this past Friday, but coach Andy Farrell admitted his team has issues to resolve.

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The Irish led by 13 points at the break, but a lack of discipline and excellent play by the Pumas almost gave the visitors their first ever win in Ireland.

“It went right down to the wire there,” Ireland skipper Caelen Doris said in his post-match reaction.

“We were happy with how it started.

“There was a good feeling through the warm-up and that carried over to the start.

“I felt we were in a pretty good position at half time and their quality showed in the second half.”

Ireland, who next host Fiji on November 23, led Argentina 12-0 after just six minutes, and flyhalf Jack Crowley’s conversion of Joe McCarthy’s 32nd-minute try made it 22-9 heading towards the interval.

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However, they failed to score again in a contest where the six-three penalties conceded tally at the break finished a lopsided 13-6 against them.

It hurt coach Andy Farrell.

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“If I can try and sum it up of where we are at, when you are looking at two top sides that we have played in the first two weeks, it looks like we’re still trying to find our feet in the intensity of the full 80 minutes for that top one per cent gains,” explained Farrell, whose team fell from first to third in the rankings after their loss to the All Blacks.

“New Zealand and Argentina have been playing those games for five or six months.

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“It looks like our lads, some shy of that intensity.

“Hopefully we are building through this month and we’ll see the best of us in the next two games.

“We looked lethargic.

“You could say that’s because of penalties given or losing a collision or whatever that maybe but just in general, the quality of opposition has been strong, very strong in these first two games and I think we will get better as we go through.”

Ireland started brightly but it was the Pumas who thought they had struck first through Matias Moroni.

Instead Moroni trudged off after receiving a yellow card for a head collision with Irish flyhalf Jack Crowley earlier in the play.

It was Crowley who was celebrating a minute later as he went over for his second Test try and converting it for 7-0 in the fourth minute.

Barely a minute had passed since Crowley’s try when Garry Ringrose broke through the centre and a sublime pass by Jamison Gibson-Park found Tadhg Beirne, who selflessly passed inside to Mack Hansen.

The Australia-born wing touched down for his 10th Test try – Crowley failed to convert but the Irish were 12-0 up inside six minutes.

Pumas flyhalf Tomas Albornoz got his team on the board with a penalty.

The Irish piled the pressure on the visitors and were denied a third try after Beirne knocked on as he went to touch the ball down.

However, they lost prop Finlay Bealham to a yellow card in the 17th minute for a dangerous tackle.

Andy Farrell looked rueful in the coach’s box as Bealham trotted off with Albornoz knocking over the penalty for 12-6.

Crowley landed a sweetly struck drop goal to make it 15-6 to the hosts.

Albornoz’s unerring boot added three more points shortly before Bealham returned to the fray for 15-9.

The Pumas resisted waves of Irish attacks but finally cracked just after the half-hour mark as Joe McCarthy powered over for his second Test try – Crowley converted for 22-9.

By contrast, the Irish line somehow held out as the Pumas pressed in the final few minutes of the half.

Ringrose turned the ball over and the hosts breathed easier as they headed in 22-9 up.

However, the Pumas responded brilliantly after the break, fullback Juan Cruz Mallia broke through from deep, Ringrose and Hansen failing to bring him down, and touched down.

Albornoz converted for 22-16.

Irish discipline was creaking just as it did against the All Blacks, conceding three penalties within minutes.

Referee Paul Williams had had enough of Irish offsides and sent McCarthy to the sin bin much to Farrell’s frustration.

Albornoz moved past 100 points in Test matches with a smoothly taken penalty for 22-19 and just under half an hour to play.

* Additional reporting by AFP

 

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