Irish hand Pumas record 53-7 loss with another Lavanini red

DUBLIN (AP) — Most of the Ireland pack which edged the All Blacks was retained to neutralize Argentina and it duly delivered to set up a record 53-7 victory at Lansdowne Road on Sunday.

Late changes to the pack were made just before kickoff after injuries to lock Iain Henderson and No. 8 Jack Conan, but they weren't missed as the forwards bossed the Pumas in the tight and the collisions and tellingly scored all seven of their tries.

“We did the things we wanted to do; we won the gainline, ball carrying was good, and we fronted up defensively,” flanker Josh van der Flier said after his two-tries shift.

Ireland completed an autumn series sweep and an eighth successive win after starting the year losing to Wales and France. But even in putting its highest score and biggest winning margin on Argentina, the Irish didn't live up to the thrills of the Japan or New Zealand wins.

Because Ireland started favorite -- never having lost to the Pumas in Dublin -- there wasn't the charged atmosphere there was for the All Blacks game but an air of inevitability in a scrappy, stop-start game.

Argentina, which just ended a seven-match losing streak last weekend in Italy, surprisingly scored the first try, stylishly finished off by wing Mateo Carreras after a couple of offloads.

But Ireland eventually waived off penalty kicks to set corner lineouts and bulldozed tries for Van der Flier -- the first of his two -- Andrew Porter and the impressive Caelen Doris to lead 24-7 at halftime.

The Pumas stressed Ireland but not on the scoreboard. Two should-have penalty kicks were fluffed, and Carreras almost scored a great solo try but knocked on meters from the line and left the field injured and in tears.

The Pumas were revived by the break but their lineout was malfunctioning, and their hopes floundered after a yellow card to No. 8 Pablo Matera and flickered out after a red card to lock Tomas Lavanini, the first man in test rugby to be sent off three times.

Lavanini led with his shoulder into the neck of prop Cian Healy, who wasn't near the ball at the back of a ruck. Lavanini was also red carded against South Africa in 2017 and England at the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

A man down, the Pumas couldn't prevent further rolling maul tries by Dan Sheehan, Healy and Tadhg Beirne.

“The last 20 minutes is difficult to analyse when you come from a yellow card and a red card,” Argentina coach Mario Ledesma said.

"I thought there was a big moment in the first half where we missed six points and then obviously that big opportunity (where Carreras knocked on after a line break) when we could have scored and we could have come back to 17-14.

“A minute later they scored and it was 24-7.”

Joey Carbery, playing in place of injured Ireland captain Jonathan Sexton, converted eight goalkicks except the last which hit the post, in a clean ride behind a dominant pack.

In a measure of their ruthlessness, the Irish didn't give the Pumas a compensation try after the hooter when they held up Facundo Isa beside the posts.

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