Bowe: We’ve shown glimpses of what we can do
After some previously tempestuous encounters pocked with nasty incidents, there was never a hint that this game would turn sour, and winger Tommy Bowe was certain he knew why the hosts enjoyed such a facile success.
He explained: “I figure we were clever enough in that we managed to win a lot of penalties and free-kicks against them and kept the scoreboard ticking over. Whenever you’re winning like that, it harder for them. They also missed a few kicks, which gave them nothing to shout about, and it was difficult for them to become too niggly.”
Bowe was less pleased with the TMO’s decision not to award Keith Earls a late try. The Monaghan native is convinced that the Irish replacement had grounded the ball after he appeared to win the touchdown scramble from Ronan O’Gara’s chip through.
“I was sure it was a try but, there you go, some decisions go against you.”
Justice was done, however, when Gordon D’Arcy snuck in for a try in injury time, and Bowe hailed the centre for having the foresight to put the ball in behind Argentina.
“We spoke about doing that at half time. Unfortunately, we didn’t get enough possession in the right positions in the second half, but that was certainly a nice way to sign off the game.”
Bowe believes Ireland have made progress during the autumn series but accepted there is work still to be done. “When we got a dry ball, we’ve shown we can do it - putting the likes of New Zealand under serious pressure,” he insisted. “We’re not trying to copy any other team; we’ve got our own style of play, with players who know we can take teams on. It’s just a case of working on that and we’ve shown glimpses of what we can do.”
Another with a smile on his face was prop forward Tony Buckley, who felt that he and front row colleagues Sean Cronin and Cian Healy have answered their critics.
He said: “Coming into it, a lot of questions were asked of the front row. We were referred to as a ‘callow’ front row. People expected us to be pushed around the place, but we gave a pretty good account of ourselves against one of the best front rows in world rugby.”
He was particularly happy with a series of scrums on Ireland’s line early on in the game.
“A few scrums went down but the end result was a penalty to us, so we’d have to be happy with that.”
Complaints from Argentina that Ireland were binding illegally fell on deaf ears with the Munster man.
“I won’t apologise for hitting them the way we did. We got pretty good momentum on the hit, got a good bind up, he (Buckley’s opposite number Rodrigo Roncero) was dropping his bind and I’m making no excuses, I’m happy with what I did.
“It (that spell) laid down a good marker for us going forward; they came into the game with two props on the bench, they expected to go to town on us in the scrums, so that gave us a big lift.”
Buckley was also adamant the former Churchill Cup front-row unit has made progress this autumn. He added: “I think this is a step in the right direction. Against South Africa, I wouldn’t have counted it as a step forward - maybe a step sideways - but the South Africans had a huge pack and there were issues with timing (and the referee) in that game. If we met them again, it would be a different story.”
Clearly, that South African game and the injury he sustained remain sources of annoyance. “It’s frustrating when you don’t play such a great game, scrums aside. Around the field against South Africa, I don’t think I even touched the ball and that’s incredibly frustrating.
“Two out of four isn’t ideal, but we got that win over Argentina and I’d take that any day. They are a good side with a very physical set of forwards. We more than matched them and got a great result in the end.”
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