Ireland Ratings
Rob Kearney 5
Left stranded a few times by poor defence and missed three tackles
Tommy Bowe 5
Taken off with a knee injury to cap a woeful start by Ireland. Another senior player injured
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Keith Earls 5
Never was Jared Payne’s authority in defence more missed
Robbie Henshaw 7
Ireland’s joint-top tackler and ran as hard as ever. Distribution skills need some work
Dave Kearney 3
Five missed tackles in all and an error-ridden performance. Failed to repay coach’s faith
Ian Madigan 6
Made a couple of significant errors at key moments but couldn’t be faulted for effort
Conor Murray 6
Pumas made life difficult for him and he made a couple of errors
Cian Healy 5
Needed to be one of Ireland’s dominant players but doesn’t look back to his best
Rory Best 7
A central character in Ireland’s fightback, lively around the park and nuisance at the ruck
Mike Ross 6
Recovered well to have a great tussle with Ayerza and contributed well in defence
Devin Toner 6
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Ireland’s lineout delivered and he played his part. Careless high tackle on Sánchez
Iain Henderson 6
Not quite as dominant when forced to play off the back foot. Seven carries but few inroads
Jordi Murphy 6
Prominent in the third quarter, making one excellent steal and taking his try well
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Chris Henry 6
Honest tryer who carried hard and made his tackles but lacks the explosive power required
Jamie Heaslip 6
Poor record as captain continues, though he was in charge of badly depleted outfit
Replacements
Jack McGrath 7
Big impact, may start in the spring
Nathan White 6
Kept the scrum solid, worth his spot
Richardt Strauss 6
Arrived just as Pumas went into overdrive
Rhys Ruddock 5
Impossible task to stem the tide
Eoin Reddan 6
Drove Ireland’s late search for consolation
Donnacha Ryan 6
Strange he wasn’t introduced earlier
Argentina Ratings
Joaquin Tuculet 8
Inspirational counterattacker whose brilliant finish took the game away from Ireland
Santiago Cordero 8
Didn’t score but Argentina did so much damage down his wing. Great kick to set up try
Matias Moroni 7
Showed his wing’s instinct to hold his width and score the try that gave Pumas a flying start
Juan Martin Hernández 9
Pumas lost their composure at times so his experience was invaluable
Juan Imhoff 9
World-class finisher who proved his pedigree twice yesterday
Nicolas Sánchez 7
Ace goalkicker who scored 23 points and brought a touch of class to the match
Martin Landajo 8
Happy to act as a link-man and general organiser. Did enough to keep place for semi-final
Marcos Ayerza 7
Experience and scrummaging power were invaluable. Lived up to billing as top loose-head
Agustin Creevy 7
Inspirational leader and a real battler in the tradition of Argentina front-row play
Ramiro Herrera 7
A lucky boy not to receive a second yellow after leading with his head into a ruck
Guido Petti 7
The baby of the team at 20 but looked fully at home at international level
Tomas Lavanini 8
Billed as the new Albacete, he typified the Pumas’ frightening physicality in the first quarter
Pablo Matera 7
Another youngster who shocked Ireland with the aggression he brought
Juan-Martin Fernández Lobbe 8
Inspirational character who was at the heart of the Pumas’ brilliant start and kept going
Leonardo Senatore 8
Took fight to Ireland early on, carrying powerfully but always making the right decisions
Replacements
Facundo Isa 7
Took up where Senatore left off. Powerful
Tomas Cubelli 7
Made presence felt
Julián Montoya 6
Set piece secure under his watch
Matías Alemanno 6
Seven tackles in 20 minutes — good going
Lucas Nogueira 6
Arrived in time for the final surge
Jerónimo de la Fuente 7
Added bite to threequarter play
Pablo Orlandi 6
Worked hard