Ireland defeat resilient Argentina

Ireland 28-19 Argentina 

A Jacob Stockdale double and CJ Stander try saw Ireland record a 28-19 victory over Argentina in Dublin to round off their autumn calendar with three wins from three.

Two Johnny Sexton penalties and a wonderful Jacob Stockdale try had Ireland 13-0 ahead at the break.

Stockdale registered his second try of the match at the start of the second half, before Joaquin Tuculet got Argentina onto the board with a neat effort.

CJ Stander powered his way over for Ireland’s third with just under 20 minutes left, before Juan Manuel Leguizamon and Ramiro Moyano went over for the Pumas with two late scores.

Ireland hit the front after just three minutes following a dominant opening period, and when Pablo Matera went off his feet at the breakdown on the Pumas’ 22, Sexton stepped up to put the home side 3-0 ahead.

Ten minutes later and Sexton doubled the advantage courtesy of another penalty from close range, after Ireland produced a magnificent scrum against the head with Cian Healy and Tadhg Furlong showing tremendous power.

With 22 minutes played Ireland scored their first try through Stockdale off a brilliant set-piece move.

From an Irish scrum, Conor Murray found Bundee Aki who trucked the ball up and in the next phase Chris Farrell showed deft hands out the back to find Sexton, who made the break and found Stockdale on his inside through the middle of the pitch to cap a wonderful score.

Ireland were well and truly in command by the end of the first half.

At the beginning of the second half Stockdale went over for his second try of the match, as he took a fabulous line and was found by an incisive flat Sexton pass.

From there, Stockdale showed great pace and strength to round Joaquin Tuculet and Nicolas Sanchez to go over in the corner. Sexton converted for a 20-0 lead.

With 55 minutes played Tuculet went over for Argentina’s first try of the match, latching onto Sanchez’ intelligent grubber kick to dive over.

Stander touched down for Ireland’s third try on 62 minutes after breaking away from the maul and powering his way over the line.

With nine minutes left, Pumas replacement flanker Leguizamon dove over in the corner to cut the score to 25-12 after several phases.

Sexton knocked over his third penalty of the game with five minutes left to stretch the lead out to 28-12, before Moyano notched a try in the last play of the game after an inch-perfect Gonzalo Bertranou kick through. Sanchez found the target from the tee to make the scoreline more respectable for Los Pumas.

Next up for Ireland is a trip to Paris for a Six Nations opener against France in the springtime.

Ireland: Rob Kearney, Adam Byrne, Chris Farrell, Bundee Aki, Jacob Stockdale, Johnny Sexton, Conor Murray; Cian Healy, Rory Best (capt), Tadhg Furlong, James Ryan, Iain Henderson, Peter O’Mahony, Sean O’Brien, CJ Stander.

Replacements: James Tracy, Dave Kilcoyne, John Ryan, Devin Toner, Rhys Ruddock, Luke McGrath, Ian Keatley, Andrew Conway.

Argentina: Joaquin Tuculet, Ramiro Moyano, Matias Moroni, Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias, Emiliano Boffelli, Nicolas Sanchez, Martin Landajo;Tomas Lezana, Marcos Kremer, Pablo Matera, Tomas Lavanini, Matias Alemanno, Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, Agustin Creevy (capt), Santiago Garcia Botta.

Replacements: Julian Montoya, Lucas Noguera, Enrique Pieretto, Guido Petti, Juan Manuel Leguizamon, Gonzalo Bertranou, Jeronimo de la Fuente, Sebastian Cancelliere.