Ireland 28-19 Argentina

Ireland climb to third in world ranking following Argentina win.

Ireland ensured a winning conclusion to the November tests with a win over Argentina at Lansdowne Road, in turn leapfrogging Australia into third in the world rankings behind the All Blacks and England.

Photo credit: Ben Whitley. Flickr.

Australia’s heavy loss to Scotland on Saturday saw them drop down below Ireland.

Ireland were off to a flier by the fourth minute with the help of a Johnny Sexton penalty from close.

A jaded Argentina side were consumed by a high energy Ireland team boosted by the return of their first choice frontline, with man of the match Jacob Stockdale bagging two tries.

For the second year running, the word from the away side as their rugby year concluded was the effect of long haul flights on the players, with the majority clocking up to 50 flights for the year. The same issue was highlight last November, the lag was clear to see in the first half for the South Americans.

Ireland seemed to rest on a 13-0 halftime lead however despite Sexton opening up a 20-0 lead shortly after the break, and Los Pumas clawed their way back into the game with three tries.

Ireland managed to hold on despite having less than a third of the ball throughout the second half. Their next game will be France in the spring for the Six Nations.