Argentina 24 Ireland 32

Ireland brought a confident Argentina back down to earth after running in four tries and surviving a late fightback to hold on for a 32-24 win at Lansdowne Road.

The South Americans, in confident mood after beating Scotland the weekend before and being unbeaten on their UK tour so far, trailed 32-3 at one point before they rallied in the final quarter as Ireland eased the pressure.

Hooker Keith Wood scored the first try of the game when he went over from short range before winger Matt Mostyn scored a hat-trick of tries to leave the Pumas in disarray.

Stand-off David Humphreys missed all four conversions but struck four penalties to add to the rout.

Ireland, showing three changes to the side which narrowly lost the second Test to Australia in Perth in June, relaxed towards the end but never looked in danger of seeing their lead overhauled.

Argentina scrum-half Agustin Pichot, a 47th minute replacement for Nicolas Fernandez Miranda, scored two tries while Martin Scelzo scored another.  Stand-off Gonzalo Quesada converted all three tries and a penalty.

The Teams:

Argentina:  1 Roberto Grau, 2 Agustin Canalda, 3 Mauricio Reggiardo, 4 Alejandro Allub, 5 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 6 Gonzalo Longo Elia, 7 Santiago Phelan, 8 Lucas Ostiglia, 9 Nicolas Fernandez Miranda, 10 Gonzalo Quesada, 11 Diego Albanese, 12 Lisandro Arbizu (c), 13 Eduardo Simone, 14 Octavio Bartolucci, 15 Manuel Contepomi
Reserves:  Fernando Diaz Alberdi, Rolando Martin, Agustin Pichot, Martin Scelzo
Unused:  Ignacio Corletto, Felipe Contepomi, Raul Perez

Ireland:  1 Peter Clohessy, 2 Keith Wood, 3 Paul Wallace, 4 Jeremy Davidson, 5 Paddy Johns, 6 Trevor Brennan, 7 Andy Ward, 8 Dion O'Cuinneagain (c), 9 Tom Tierney, 10 David Humphreys, 11 Matt Mostyn, 12 Brian O'Driscoll, 13 Kevin Maggs, 14 Justin Bishop, 15 Conor O'Shea
Reserves:  Eric Elwood, Eric Miller, Mike Mullins, Malcolm O'Kelly, Justin Fitzpatrick
Unused:  Ross Nesdale, Brian O'Meara

Attendance:  15000
Referee:  Bevan

Points Scorers:

Argentina
Tries:  Pichot A. 2, Scelzo M. 1
Conv:  Quesada G. 3
Pen K.:  Quesada G. 1

Ireland
Tries:  Mostyn M. 3, Wood K.G.M. 1
Pen K.:  Humphreys D.G. 4