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Ireland v Argentina

HT: Ireland 19 Argentina 3

FT: Ireland 29 Argentina 9

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Forty minutes of brilliant rugby from Ireland. Class rugby with precision, aggression and commitment. In the second half Ireland went to pieces, the smooth running and pasing movements of the first half began to disintegrate and the Irish let the Pumas strangle the possession and dirty the breakdown area. xx

Who missed it ???

The Irish led 19-3 at half-time with Stephen Ferris scoring a 20th-minute try and Jonathan Sexton kicking four penalties and a conversion.

Sexton landed another penalty after the interval and Ronan O'Gara converted Gordon D'Arcy's injury-time try.

Felipe Contepomi kicked one penalty in the first half and two after the break but missed with three other attempts.

Ireland's starting line-up showed five changes from the side that performed creditably in the defeat by the All Blacks last week.

Argentina made three changes from the team which lost to France.

Felipe Contepomi tried to open the Pumas' account in the third minute but his attempt at a drop goal went just wide of the upright.

Soon after, a drive by the Argentine forwards almost resulted in a try but the visitors were held up just short of the Irish line.

The Argentina pack continued to dominate but Ireland secured a crucial turnover deep inside their own half and after making good ground were awarded a 13th-minute penalty which Sexton kicked over to make it 3-0.

Ferris scored the second try of his Ireland career to extend the home side's lead in the 20th minute.

Tommy Bowe fed Jamie Heaslip and the big Leinster number eight raced through a gap in the Argentine defence before passing to back-row colleague Ferris who dived over in the corner, Sexton converting.

Contepomi squandered a relatively straightforward attempt to reduce his side's deficit when he skewed a penalty wide of the posts.

Five minutes later Sexton was successful with his first penalty effort from in front of the posts after Argentina were penalised for offside.

Contepomi replied with a close-range penalty when Donncha O'Callaghan was pulled up for offside but Sexton restored Ireland's 13-point advantage with his third penalty.

Fly-half Contepomi was off-target with another penalty effort but his Irish counterpart Sexton made no mistake with his kick in the final minute of the half to make it 19-3 at the interval.

The Argentine captain missed with a penalty seven minutes after the break but made no mistake with his next attempt, knocking the ball between the posts in the 58th minute for the first points of a lacklustre second half.

Sexton maintained his 100 per cent record with the boot by landing his fifth penalty from long range and Contepomi replied with a penalty for Argentina who never looked likely to make serious inroads into Ireland's lead.

In the final minute of the game replacement Keith Earls appeared to have won the race to ground the ball after a through ball by Ronan O'Gara but the Televison Match Official ruled that that Earls had knocked on.

Gordon D'Arcy ensured that Ireland ended their year on a high by chipping the ball over the Argentine defence and touching down for a late try in added time.

Was the ground half empty again?

I know it's a contentious issue to play at Croke Park but the new Lansdowne Road just doesn't seem the same for atmosphere, even from the old, dilapidated ground.