British & Irish Lions 24 Argentina 28
History was made on a historic night, although not the kind which the Lions desired. Instead of a winning send-off to Australia, it was Los Pumas who marked the 60th anniversary of the year they effectively came into being with a first ever win over the famed Lions.
On a balmy evening in Dublin, under blue skies and in temperatures at kick-off of 23 degrees, both sides were adventurous from the off. But the rusty Lions left a hatload of half-chances behind them, and the amount of interceptions by Los Pumas was also testimony to how the forced passes and offloads didn’t always stick.
Playing their first game in seven months, Felipe Contepomi’s irreverent and skilful team were the more clinical, hung on like dogs with a bone, had some smart plays and conjured two brilliant long-range tries.
Bringing together a side from four countries is always a challenge and perhaps this will do the Lions good in the long run but at the full-time whistle it just didn’t feel like it.
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An opening passage of three-and-a-half minutes set the tone, as did former 7s star Rodrigo Isgró who brought his aerial skills to bear when reclaiming a perfectly weighted up-and-under by the game’s outstanding performer, Tomás Albornoz, which was gathered by Lucio Cinti.
The Pumas worked the ball to Ignacio Mendy in space on the left and the Lions were indebted to a strong tackle by Tom Curry to prevent a try by Justo Piccardo, making his first start for Argentina. Compensation for the Pumas and relief for the Lions came by way of an Albornoz penalty.
Still, the Lions were quickly into a smooth attacking rhythm, the Fin Smith-Bundee Aki-Marcus Smith axis were putting plenty of pace on the ball with an array of subtle passes. But Luke Cowan-Dickie had a try rightly ruled out when losing control of the ball before grounding, and Duhan van der Merwe also demonstrated his danger before Fin Smith drew the sides level.
Whereupon the Pumas struck stealthily with a two-phase attack from a lineout 40 metres out, trucking the ball up the middle before Albornoz’s skip pass took out Tommy Freeman and Santiago Carreras linked with Mendy for him to step van der Merwe and score.
Sione Tuipulotu also had a try ruled out after a clear exchange of knock-ons and he was then only denied from the Lions’ ensuing scrum by Albornoz’s brilliant tackle. However, Cowan-Dickie, Marcus Smith, Tuipulotu and Fin Smith worked the ball to Aki, who had to swivel in gathering before beating Gonzalo García and Cinti to score.
Fin Smith’s conversion nudged the Lions in front, before Albornoz did likewise with a penalty. The Lions again didn’t convert a third scrum penalty to the corner, there were a couple of lineout mishaps and their passing close to the line led to Isgró intercepting and Carreras threading a 50-22 up the touchline.
This in turn led to another lovely strike move and Isgró forcing Marcus Smith to concede a five-metre scrum off an Albornoz grubber into space, the latter adding another penalty after another try-saving tackle by Curry, this time on Pablo Matera.
The Pumas then struck at the end of the half when the ball spun loose after van der Merwe carried into contact. Juan Martin Gonzalez latched on to the ball and when his offload went to ground Isgró picked up, made yards and released Carreras with a no-look inside pass for the full-back to again draw the last man, Albornoz finishing off the 80-metre turnover try and converting for a stunning 21-10 interval lead.
Lions players and fans alike look stunned but the home side regrouped at half-time and were certainly not of a mind to start playing cautiously. Another prolonged passage of play featured a daring counter run deep initiated by Marcus Smith and Freeman, as well as the latter’s break up the touchline before another penalty to the corner had the double effect of a penalty try and a Mayco Vivas yellow card for pulling the maul down.
The impact of the benches seemed likelier to favour the Lions, and they were further energised by the introduction of Rónan Kelleher, Henry Pollock and Tomos Williams. But it was a huge rumble up the middle by Ellis Genge that did the damage, and two recycles later Tadhg Beirne held his depth and called for a skip pass from Williams which the Welsh scrumhalf delivered for the try, Fin Smith converting.
The Pumas then struck from deep again. Albornoz saw Curry’s charge and dummied him delightfully inside his own 22, then beat another player before passing to Joaquin Oviedo and Matias Moroni grubbered perfectly for fellow replacement, the recently released Connacht man Santiago Cordero, to beat Marcus Smith to the touchdown for a try.
Albornoz, who had a dream night, converted.
The Fields of Athenry rang out amid roars of encouragement for the Lions from a completely engaged crowd.
But as the din increased, a neck roll by Beirne, having taken over the captaincy from the withdrawn Itoje, led to an attacking penalty being reversed. Los Pumas kept one more attack at arm’s length and they and their pockets of fans celebrated accordingly.
Fully deserved. Fair play to them.
SCORING SEQUENCE – 4 mins: Albornoz pen 0-3; 9: Smith pen 3-3; 11: Mendy try 3-8; 18: Aki try, Smith con 10-8; 25: Albornoz pen 10-11; 39: Albornoz pen 10-14 40: Albornoz try, con 10-21; Half-time 10-21; 45: pen try 17-21; 52: Beirne try, Smith con 24-21; 58: Cordero try, Albornoz con 24-28.
BRITISH & IRISH LIONS: M Smith (England); T Freeman (England), S Tuipulotu (Scotland), B Aki (Ireland), D van der Merwe (Scotland); F Smith (England), A Mitchell (England); E Genge (England), L Cowan-Dickie (England), F Bealham (Ireland); M Itoje (England, capt), T Beirne (Ireland), T Curry (England), J Morgan (Wales), B Earl (England).
Replacements: R Kelleher (Ireland) for Cowan-Dickie, T Williams (Wales) for Mitchell, H Pollock (England) for Morgan (all 49 mins), M Hansen (Ireland) for van der Merwe, E Daly (England) for Aki, T Furlong (Ireland) for Bealham, P Schoeman (Scotland) for Genge (all 59), S Cummings (Scotland) for Itoje (71), Bealham for Furlong (81, HIA).
ARGENTINA: S Carreras; R Isgró, L Cinti, J Piccardo, I Mendy; T Albornoz, G Garcíal M Vivas, J Montoya (capt), J Sclavi; F Molina, P Rubiolo; P Matera, J M Gonzalez, J Oviedo.
Replacements: S Cordero for Mendy (44 mins), F Coria Marchetti for Sclavi (47), B Wenger for Oviedo (47-56), M Moroni for Cinti (55), S Grondona for Molina (59), J Moro for Moroni (60), Cinti for Oviedo (65), Wenger for Vivas (66), S Benitez Cruz for Garcia (70), B Bernasconi for Montoya (80).
Yellow card: Vivas (45-55).
Referee: J Doleman (NZR).
