Ireland 42-12 Argentina: Keenan hat-trick earns big win but Farrell wants more

Hugo Keenan scored a hat-trick as Ireland swept aside Argentina 42-12 in Dublin, but head coach Andy Farrell said his side had missed an opportunity to be more ruthless.

Ireland recovered from conceding the opening try to score six of their own at the Aviva Stadium, with Dan Sheehan, Sam Prendergast and Ronan Kelleher also crossing.

All 42 points came inside the opening 56 minutes. A scoreless final quarter left Farrell looking for improvements despite a third victory in four Nations Championship matches.

“The story of the game is we missed a chance to be ruthless,” he told BBC Sport.

Ireland 42-12 Argentina: Keenan leads the response

Argentina struck first when Mateo Carreras collected Tomás Albornoz’s cross-field kick above Craig Casey to score in the 10th minute.

But their lead lasted only five minutes. Robert Baloucoune broke forward, Mack Hansen supplied the inside offload and Keenan finished, with Prendergast’s conversion putting Ireland ahead.

Sheehan added the second try in the 25th minute before Keenan crossed again five minutes later. Prendergast converted both to establish a 21-5 half-time lead.

The fly-half then scored his first international try shortly after the restart, extending Ireland’s advantage before Carreras claimed his second for the visitors.

That response did little to interrupt Ireland. Passes from Tadhg Furlong, Joe McCarthy and Ryan Baird released Keenan for his third try in the 50th minute, and Kelleher finished a rolling maul five minutes later.

Ciaran Frawley’s conversion completed the scoring. Prendergast had landed all five of his attempts before handing over kicking duties.

Team	Tries	Conversions
Ireland	Keenan 3 (15, 30, 50), Sheehan (25), Prendergast (42), Kelleher (55)	Prendergast 5, Frawley 1
Argentina	Carreras 2 (10, 46)	Albornoz 1

Farrell pleased with dominance but demands sharper finish

Argentina’s discipline compounded their problems. Justo Piccardo and Efraín Elias were sent to the sin-bin, while Ireland replacement prop Sam Illo received a late yellow card.

Ireland had 59% of the territory but could not turn their late pressure into further points. Lost possession at the lineout contributed to the opportunities that went unconverted.

Farrell welcomed the control his players had established against dangerous opposition, while making clear that the final score did not represent everything available to them.

That assessment followed his pre-match warning that Ireland must improve to challenge for next year’s World Cup, outlined in our report on Farrell’s demand for progress.

Argentina coach Felipe Contepomi pointed to his own team’s mistakes, saying there were “a lot of individual errors which we need to get better”, according to The Independent.

Keenan sees room for improvement after hat-trick

Keenan was named player of the match but credited the work around him, describing his finishes as “walk-ins to be honest, I’ll take any” in his Sky Sports interview.

For the full-back, the encouraging part was that Ireland had beaten Argentina by 30 points without producing their best throughout.

Tadhg Beirne shared that view. The second row felt Ireland had left points behind in the closing stages, even after building a commanding lead.

The result extended Argentina’s losing run against Ireland in Dublin to 12 matches. Their victory over Farrell’s British and Irish Lions at the same ground last year remains a separate success.

Ireland assess injuries before Fiji match

Ireland’s attention now turns to Fiji, although Farrell has several fitness concerns to assess.

Sheehan failed a first-half head injury assessment. Farrell said the captain seemed fine in the dressing room, but that observation does not confirm his availability for the next match.

Baloucoune went off with a knock in the 58th minute, while Sean Jansen took a blow to his knee. Josh van der Flier and Hansen also have ankle concerns, although Hansen continued after treatment.

Farrell said Casey, Nick Timoney and Prendergast had strengthened their selection claims with their performances.

Ireland host Fiji on Saturday 14 November before facing South Africa the following weekend. Further team news and reaction are available in our international rugby coverage.