Why Maro Itoje still feels optimistic about Lions tour despite ‘tippy-tappy’ loss to Argentina

Maro Itoje has accused his British and Irish Lions team of delivering ineffective ‘tippy-tappy’ rugby in their deflating loss to Argentina on Friday.

The script was for the Lions to defeat the Pumas in Dublin and fly out to Australia the following day with a spring in their step.

However, their two-week preparation leading into the 1888 Cup match, which included a week in Portugal, came a cropper as Los Pumas produced a 28-24 upset result.

The outcome was thoroughly deflating and a poor reflection on a starting XV that consisted of nine England players – including Itoje, who looked off the pace and did not impress with his captaincy.

Appearing on Sky Sports after the loss, he suggested: “At times we were playing tippy-tappy and that’s not what we want to be. We want to be an aggressive team.

“We will live, learn and get better…”

“We were nowhere near as accurate or as consistent as we wanted to be. We only showed glimmers of what we can do.

“We didn’t consistently apply pressure. We let them [Argentina] off and they caught us slipping at times. We are building but we would have liked to have been kicking off right from the off.

“It wasn’t quite that, but we will live, learn and get better. Argentina showed us where we are lacking. I am happy we had a hard-fought game. This is only match one. We showed signs of what this team can be.”

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