Felipe Contepomi left with a pocketful of regrets, based primarily on Argentina’s slow start to the game. As it transpired it was just as well Ireland had 13 points in hand at the interval because the visitors came within a whisker of redemption by the time referee Paul Williams’s final whistle allowed the Irish supporters, coaches and players to exhale: three points to the good at 22-19.
Argentina’s head coach admitted that “it’s disappointing because it hurts and I hate losing more than what I love, which is winning. The performance itself, we didn’t start well but we got into the game and I think we ended up in good form.
“When you play against the best teams in the world you know it’s going to go to the 80th minute and it will be small margins, and that was it. So yeah, it’s disappointing [but] I think we’ve a lot to improve but we’ve got a good platform of where to improve.”
One of those performance tenets on which Argentina will be able to lean on is the resilience they demonstrated in defence when Ireland were in their ascendancy for much of the opening half an hour. Players scrambled ferociously to deny Ireland when it looked certain that the home side would add to their try tally.
Contepomi said: “Yeah, I’m very proud of the boys because I think, you know, definitely one thing to get better at is Ireland started fast and we need to start these sort of games better. But then we stuck to it and we stayed in the game.
“And in the moments where Ireland really threw all their armament and all their tricks, we defended well, and we kept disciplined. We had two-man tackles and moved quickly [to fill the line]. So for us, I think that is, yeah, definitely I’m proud of that. It’s part of the game, you know, it’s not only attack but also defence and the boys had a great game in defence, especially the second half.
“We put ourselves in a position to maybe get the opportunity to win the game. [We] missed the opportunity, but at the same time you’re playing against a top team in the world; they won’t give you an easy entrance to their in-goal.
“It’s good for us to understand and get the experience of playing these sorts of games. They come down to very small margins, and I think the more we can play these sorts of games, it’s great.”
Argentinian captain Julián Montoya echoed his coach’s sentiments but with a sharper tang of pain that comes from playing. “Of course we’re disappointed. We play to win and like Felipe said, I hate losing more than I love winning. We’re playing against the best teams and today we didn’t win.
“Maybe sometimes you say that you deserve to win, or this or that, but deserving is not enough, we need to be better. We need to learn, but I’m very proud of the team and the fight we showed. Now we need to learn because we have a big game next week as well [against France in Paris].
“We had a lot of positives, some negatives as well and against a quality team like Ireland you pay the price. But we want to improve and we’re going to keep working hard during the week to be better.”
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