Busy weekend and such a lot to catch up on. First up the review of Ireland’s second tour match against Argentina in Tucuman on Saturday evening.

Yet again I’d expected better from, a more or less first string, Ireland against a second string Pumas side but they were made to work hard for this one even with the return of most of the Leinster ruling class!

In came Jamie Heaslip, Devin Toner and Rhys Ruddock up front and Eoin Reddan, Fergus McFadden and Rob Kearney in the backs but to tell the truth they didn’t make much of an improvement – in fact in my opinion the replacement of Iain Henderson by Toner and Robbie Diack by Ruddock severely depleted the work rate in the pack, where, as we all know, is where all games are won and lost.

Sure Ruddock had a glamorous enough game with ball in hand running 25 meters and beating six defenders but he only completed three tackles. Diack’s stats from last week show 14 meters run, three defenders beaten and 10 tackles completed combined with five line out takes and two steals compared to Ruddock who completed three line out takes.

Toner’s only significant stats are 2 tackles made and one missed compared to Henderson who completed 11 last week.

In fairness Ireland did enjoy a lot more possession this week but the back line struggled to do anything with it and despite enjoying 74% possession and 80% territory in the first half Ireland found themselves going into the break 10 – 9 down after a break out by the Pumas after Chris Henry failed to make the line in an Ireland attack.

Martin Landajo broke through a lacklustre defence and though Amorosino was hauled down short of the Ireland line a quick recycle saw Joaquin Tuculet crossing for a simple touchdown.

Home skipper Martin Landajo broke easily through the porous Irish defensive line, and although Zebo’s covering tackle denied Amorosino a certain score, quick ball was presented to Landajo and his skip pass sent Joaquin Tuculet in for a simple try.

The score gave Argentina a four point lead at 10 – 6 but Jonny Sexton knocked over his third penalty of the half before the break to send the teams in with the score reading 10 – 9.

In a better second half Ireland still had to rely on two instances of individual skills to eventually pull clear.

First Simon Zebo latched onto an inside pass from Eoin Reddan to cross unopposed. Sexton converted to push the score to 10 – 16 before making way for Madigan after a clash of heads and it was Madigan who grabbed Ireland’s second score skipping inside the defence to score under the posts.

The Leinster utility player converted to give Ireland a 10 – 23 lead with seven minutes to go but as with last week it was the Pumas who had the final say with Amorosino crossing in the final minute for a converted try.

Final score Argentina 17 Ireland 23. 

Ireland: Rob Kearney, Andrew Trimble, Fergus McFadden, Darren Cave, Simon Zebo, Johnny Sexton, Eoin Reddan, Dave Kilcoyne, Rory Best, Mike Ross, Devin Toner, Paul O’Connell, Rhys Ruddock, Chris Henry, Jamie Heaslip. Replacements: Rob Herring, James Cronin, Jack McGrath, Iain Henderson, Jordi Murphy, Kieran Marmion, Ian Madigan, Noel Reid