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1 month ago
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Jeopardy is a word with plenty of currency in rugby these days. Mostly it’s used in reference to how competitions are structured, but also in describing individual matches. This one had plenty. Not always evident, especially in the first half when Ireland looked a good deal better than against the All Blacks. But the race down the home straight, with Argentina a man down, had heaps of it. When at last the pressure was relieved for the home team pretty much all of them called the knock on.
By way of compensation after last week the light rain made its way elsewhere well before kick off, so we had a game with fewer stoppages and, mercifully, fewer scrums: just one in the opening quarter. And plenty of quick, watchable rugby.
We don’t know if Felipe Contepomi urged his boys to channel the spirit of ‘99 – we are 25 years on from that historic World Cup night in Lens when Argentina leapfrogged Ireland in the rugby pecking order – but they were all over this like a rash.
The coach was just 22 then, coming off the bench as Ireland were unravelling and the Pumas were baring their teeth. He has always been well stuck into battles with Ireland since then, a relationship given added spice through his time in Ireland. This was meat and drink to him.
So you can imagine his mood when Matias Moroni had his try after just two minutes scrubbed for a head to head on Jack Crowley, 70 metres upfield. To add to the pain it was Crowley who scored the try when Ireland put that penalty to touch and scored soon after. As points swings go, that was rugby’s equivalent of the tallymen telling you the numbers were great only to discover a rake of spoiled votes.
But they kept their heads, even when a few minutes later Mack Hansen got over. Two tries conceded and a man in the bin inside six minutes? For some a ticket out the gate, but the Pumas put down some roots, with Tomás Albornoz chipping away at Ireland’s lead. The odd thing was they continued the policy even when Ireland lost Finlay Bealham for 10 minutes for a croc roll.
By the time they aimed higher, in the dying minutes of the first half, they ended up slogging away close to the Ireland line, and failing. That passage of play surely coloured the conversation in the home changing room. Joe McCarthy’s try just after the half hour was their third, and they kept their line intact. It was a big pick up on a week ago.
Seven points there for the tourists would have given them the perfect springboard into the second half. They didn’t look like they were going to change the flow until out of run of the mill phase play Juan Cruz Mallia timed a perfect run around the corner. Then he left three green shirts in his wake from 40 metres. Game on again.
These are exactly the periods Andy Farrell is looking for Ireland to press the calm and assured buttons, right next to the one marked ruthless defence. The console must have been in need of service. They hit the one for reverse. And with the sight of McCarthy jogging off on a yellow for persistent offside in that retreat Albronoz tapped over another three points.
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At that point the IRFU would have taken out a second mortgage on the gaff to regain some momentum. That window presented itself with the return of McCarthy, followed a minute later by debutant Sam Prendergast. No gimme that one for the young out-half, with his side already on 11 penalties conceded.
They were winning the territorial battle though, even if it meant relying on kicking away some ball they could have retained. The arrival off the bench by Cian Healy was a landmark moment for the Clontarf legend, perching his broad derriere on the same step of 133 caps as Brian O’Driscoll. To still be playing the game given the injury road he has travelled is part miracle, part perseverance. It’s also a commentary on the lack of depth in the Irish prop department that they are still dialling his number on Test weekends. At the other end of the scale Thomas Clarkson made his debut, at tight head and did well, but there needs to be far more traffic in that zone.
At this point, with the game in its last 10 minutes, Contepomi was praying for a shift in territory while Farrell was taking solace from the gap between the blue shirts and the green line. Enter Francisco Gomez Kodela with a dangerous clean out on Caelan Doris – which cost his team a man – and you could feel Contepomi wondering why the replacement prop chose that moment.
The prospect of zero from two was always a long shot but its prospect kept Farrell, and his captain especially, on edge all week. The endgame proved they had every reason to be worried.
