Time was when Ireland-Argentina encounters, especially in Irish autumns, were spiteful arm wrestles, the memories of which became blurred and blended into one. Not this one, although as this loose, undulating game veered wildly in one direction and then the other, it was hard to know quite what to make of this curate’s egg of an Irish performance and a game.
Even Andy Farrell seemed a little nonplussed by the wildness of it all.
“It was three or four games in one, wasn’t it really?” was his first take on the 22-19 victory for his side. “Obviously the over-riding feeling is we’re delighted to get the win. There were a few things we needed to learn from last week, and some things that we didn’t address on the field. But we said last week we had a chance of winning ugly. We did that this week, that’s a plus.
“We showed really good intent in how we started the game. We were direct, we were piling into them, we were hard to handle playing off quick ball. On the back of that, if we get that Tadhg Beirne score, it justifies the score a little bit because of the dominance that we had,” said the Irish coach in reference to Beirne not quite grounding the ball correctly in the 15th minute when Ireland were 12-3 to the good. Of course, Matias Moroni having his own try ruled out in the third minute for his earlier high hit on Jack Crowley was also significant.
“But we know the kind of side they are, they’ve improved out of sight,” said Farrell. “And the pressure they put on us, and that we put ourselves, obviously brought them back into the game. And to cut a long story short, we held our nerve towards the end and just about got there.”
Asked if he seen the response he wanted from some players whom he’d said were “lucky enough” to keep their places, Farrell replied “in parts”.
He added: “If I can try and sum it up of where we’re at, I think when you’re looking at two top sides that we’ve played in the first two weeks, it looks like we’re still trying to find out feet in the intensity of the full 80 minutes, for that top one per cent gains.”
“Obviously New Zealand and Argentina have been playing those games for the last five months. It looks like our lads, some of them, are a little bit shy of that type of intensity. Hopefully we’ll build it through this month, and we’ll see the best of it in the next two games.
To Farrell’s frustration, for the second game running, the penalty count went heavily against Ireland – 13-6 here compared to 13-5 a week ago – although he sought to rationalise this.
“It’s something that we’ve been outstanding on over the last 10 years actually,” said Farrell of Ireland’s discipline. “But certainly in that amount of time you’re saying there, it’s not done out of players going out there to be ill-disciplined.
“It’s coming from the right place, if that may sound stupid. All they’re trying to do is do the right thing by their team, They just need to be a little more patient individually and trust the team and what they’re about.”
For the second week running Farrell removed Jack Crowley around the hour mark with Ireland in front, and although the Irish coach sounded understandably happier with the brightness of his outhalf’s first-half display, then less so about his display in the third quarter.
“Some real good stuff actually,” was Farrell’s initial comment when asked about Crowley’s performance, “and then some bits that you’d obviously like to tidy up like everyone else. You always ask a question about an individual and I have to answer the question, but at the same time it’s a team game. He either does some good stuff and some bad stuff, so it’s not just Jack.”
Yet, by contrast, when asked about the 21-year-old debutant Sam Prendergast, Farrell said: “I thought he was excellent. I thought he was really composed, playing your first cap in that type of position, that type of situation, I thought he was really composed. He played at a nice tempo at the line and started to make things happen. That just shows what type of character he’s got.”
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