Let’s keep some perspective on Ireland performances

At least that’s Argentina put to bed.

For close to two decades now, the Pumas have lingered around Irish nostrils like a bad smell, and the shadow of the World Cup quarter-final loss to the South Americans in Cardiff last October polluted so much of the narrative in the build-up to yesterday’s Six Nations opener.

The wounds were still raw, the memories of an Irish side denuded both by injury and suspension and ultimately wilting under pressure from an opponent that smelled blood was merely infected all the more by the loss of another batch of front-liners for the visit of the Welsh.