Ireland v Argentina: Winners and losers as Irish stars showcase ‘remarkable rugby IQ’ while Shaun Edwards has ‘inauspicious’ start
Ireland's hat-trick hero against Argentina, Hugo Keenan, and new Los Pumas defence coach Shaun Edwards.
Following a 42-12 victory for Ireland over Argentina at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Friday, here are our winners and losers from the Nations Championship clash.
Winners
Hugo Keenan
The hat-trick hero for the hosts but his performance was much more than that. Keenan obviously showed great try-scoring instincts and quality to cross the whitewash three times, but he was also exceptional elsewhere.
He has remarkable rugby IQ and always positions himself superbly in backfield while his hands are solid on the kick receipt and his one-on-one tackling is among the best around. A truly world-class player who never lets Ireland down.
Mateo Carreras
One of Los Pumas’ few standouts. Scored both of his side’s tries and never stopped working as he constantly got his hands on the ball and made ground. Both of Carreras’ finishes were superb as he displayed his vast array of skills to at least give something for his supporters to smile about.
Considering his small stature, the wing is incredibly strong in contact and difficult to bring to ground but, unfortunately for the visitors, he was pretty much their only threat. There were glimpses from the likes of Santiago Chocobares and Tomas Albornoz, but not much else from the rest.
Sam Prendergast
Granted, there were a couple of poor choices from the fly-half, particularly early on, but this was so much better from Prendergast. In fact, his start to the season in general has been good and the subtle changes in his game have paid dividends.
Previously, the playmaker was simply standing and delivering – taking the ball stood still and shipping it onto a team-mate – but this season he has been moving onto the pass from his scrum-half. That automatically makes Prendergast a much greater threat and on Friday it enabled him to get the Irish attack moving.
Nick Timoney
He has worked so hard to get himself in a position to be a regular in the Ireland 23 and he more than justified his start with a fine display. Timoney was incredibly busy on both sides of the ball, making ground in the carry and dominating physically in defence. The openside is 31 now but he is enjoying his time in the sun.
Mack Hansen
Another player to make a big difference to this Irish side is Hansen. He has endured his injury troubles but when fit the wing adds so much to the team. Like Keenan, he has an exceptional rugby brain and his ability to inject himself at just the right time is very impressive, while his skill level allows him to execute when he gets in those good positions.
Andrew Goodman
There has been criticism of Ireland’s attack since the end of the 2023 Rugby World Cup. New Zealander Goodman took over from Mike Catt in 2024, but the free-flowing and clinical style which became synonymous with the Irish has been absent a bit too often over the past couple of years.
However, there has been glimpses in 2026, including a couple of superb performances against England and Scotland in the Six Nations, and this effort was just as promising. They lost their rhythm late on but for 55 minutes this was like the Ireland of old.
Losers
Shaun Edwards
Joined last month on a deal until the end of the 2027 Rugby World Cup and on this evidence he has plenty of work to do. Either that or Edwards has indeed lost his magic touch as a defence coach after France started leaking points under his stewardship.
After a bright start from the South Americans, holes started to appear as the Irish brilliantly manipulated the visiting rearguard to touch down six times in the opening hour. Certainly not the most auspicious start to Edwards’ stint.
Argentina hookers
While Los Pumas weren’t particularly great in defence, it did not help that they could not set a platform in the set-piece. Quite simply the lineout was abysmal with Julian Montoya having a very poor day at the office before he was replaced following a head injury.
Leonel Oviedo then came on for Montoya and it did not get much better with the replacement also struggling. He then also suffered a HIA with prop Boris Wenger briefly taking over throwing responsibilities, and it says a lot that he arguably did a better job. Oviedo did return to put in an improve showing but the damage had been done on the scoreboard by that point.
Argentina locks
Although the hookers may bear the brunt of the criticism for Argentina’s set-piece fallibility, the back five of the scrum, and especially the second-row, should also not be excused. Pedro Rubiolo in particular had a shocker, and not just for their struggles in the set-piece. Rubiolo attempted 14 tackles and missed six of them in what was a poor day for the pack.
Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for world-class coverage you can trust.
Marcos Kremer
Speaking of missed tackles, Kremer was awry with five attempts – second behind Rubiolo – in what was a surprisingly poor performance from the top-class forward. Usually so abrasive and the standard-setter at close quarters, he was bullied by Ireland and failed to reach the level required.
Argentina bench
Los Pumas did stem the bleeding in the latter stages of the contest, but it felt like it was more a case of Ireland reducing the intensity when the game was won than anything the Argentinians did. Efrain Elias summed up their woes by getting sin-binned just a few minutes after coming on as the replacements never managed to alter the momentum. It was a terrible all-round showing from Felipe Contepomi’s men.
READ MORE: Ireland v Argentina, AS IT HAPPENED: Coverage of the Nations Championship fixture