Result | Argentina 17 v 29 Ireland – 7 June 2014

Ireland won an official Test in Argentina for the first time with a 29-17 victory over the Pumas at Estadio Centenario in Resistencia, as skipper Paul O’Connell celebrated his 100th cap.

This was a far from full-strength Argentina side – most of their Europe-based stars were missing – but they provided Ireland with a decent contest and were competitive throughout.

An early burst up the centre from Darren Cave set up a penalty chance for Jonathan Sexton and the Racing Metro fly-half made no mistake to edge Ireland ahead

Sexton doubled the lead on 18 minutes before the Argentina scrum won a penalty close to the Ireland line and Nicolas Sanchez halved the deficit.

The Pumas’ No 8 Benjamin Macome was sin-binned on 28 minutes for tackling Andrew Trimble in the air but just two minutes later Ireland were hit by the first try of the match.

Scrum half Sanchez made the intial break and handed off Chris Henry before offloading to Manuel Montero, who finished superbly in the corner after beating Sexton and Trimble on his way to the line. Sanchez converted and the hosts led 10-6.

Rolling maul

Just three minutes later Ireland hit back with a trademark rolling maul from a lineout, Ulster flanker Henry driven over to score, but Sexton missed the conversion and Ireland led just 11-10 at the break.

They quickly increased that with a searing move, Sexton going in after a wraparound move, the fly-half showing great pace and strength to get over the line and score, although again he could not add the xtras.

Andrew Trimble’s interception try took Ireland clear and with Sexton converting and his replacement Ian Madigan adding two penalties, Ireland were out of sight.

But the Pumas continued to battle bravely and they had the final word when Tomas De La Vega crashed over from the base of a ruck and Iglesias converted.

The scorers:

For Argentina: 17
Tries: M Montero, De la Vega
Con: Sanchez, Iglesias
Pen: Sanchez

For Ireland: 29
Tries: Henry, Sexton, Trimble
Con: Sexton
Pen: Sexton 2, Madigan 2