Ireland vs Argentina | A look at the midfields

Full time.Ireland 42 – 12 Argentina. Felipe Contepomi's team will want to quickly forget about this game.

Argentina took the lead when Mateo Carreras scored from a kick-through in the 9th minute, though Tomás Albornoz missed the conversion. Ireland then took control. Hugo Keenan scored three tries (14', 29', 49'), and Dan Sheehan (24'), Sam Prendergast (41') and Ronan Kelleher (54', from a rolling maul) added the others, six in all. Argentina’s only reply was a second Carreras try at 45'.

Prendergast kicked five conversions from five and scored 15 points (a try plus the five conversions). Ciarán Frawley added the sixth conversion, so Ireland were 6/6 with the boot. Albornoz converted one of two for Argentina.

Argentina were hampered by indiscipline and a poor lineout. They conceded 14 penalties to Ireland’s 6, and won only 7 of their 12 lineouts (58%) against Ireland’s 17 of 19 (89%). Piccardo (34') and Elias (53') were yellow-carded for Argentina, and Sam Illo (60') for Ireland. 

Lets look at how the midfields of both teams played

McCloskey v Chocobares: Chocobares was the more effective ball-carrier. He got more post-contact metres (30 v 18), beat more defenders (3 v 1) and made a clean break, in 17 fewer minutes. McCloskey did the heavier work off the ball, with more rucks and a try-saving tackle.

Henshaw v Piccardo: Piccardo had the better game going forward. He beat 4 defenders to Henshaw’s 0, made 11 ruck contributions and had more gain-line carries. Henshaw’s strengths were defence and creation. He made 11 tackles (Piccardo 9) and set up two line breaks (Piccardo 1). He also kicked twice for 84 metres. Piccardo’s also received a yellow card for being offside.

Ireland host Fiji on the 14th and Argentina takes on Italy