DUBLIN (Reuters) – Ireland survived a fierce second half comeback from Argentina to narrowly defeat the Pumas 22-19 at the Aviva Stadium on Friday and just about bounce back from last week’s disappointing loss to New Zealand.
Ireland led 22-9 at halftime after ruthlessly punishing an early Argentina yellow card with two tries in the first seven minutes from Jack Crowley and Mack Hansen. Joe McCarthy added a third after Tomas Albornoz had kept the visitors in touch.
A very different Argentina side emerged after halftime with Juan Cruz Mallia slicing the hosts open with the try of the game and Albornoz cutting the lead to just three points as the Irish errors of a week ago began to creep back in.
But the hosts composed themselves, in no small part thanks to an impressive debut off the bench from 21-year-old flyhalf Sam Prendergast and hung on at the death to avoid back-to-back defeats for the first time since 2021.
(Reporting by Padraic Halpin, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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