Tucuman: Ireland won a Test series in Argentina for the first time on Saturday as the Six Nations champions came from a try behind for the second successive week to prevail with a scrappy 23-17 victory in Tucuman.
The tourists, who lost a one-off test in Buenos Aires in 2000 and a two-game series seven years later, fell behind to a breakaway Joaquin Tuculet try before the boot of Johnny Sexton and finishing of Simon Zebo and Ian Madigan saw them home.
Ireland began as they ended last week’s 29-17 win, with two early Sexton penalties.
After Nicolas Sanchez cut the advantage in half, Argentina turned defence into attack with Lucas Gonzalez Amorosina almost running the length of the field before Tuculet went over.
Sexton pulled a sloppy Ireland back within a point at the break and Joe Schmidt’s men opted to keep the ball tighter among their pack in the second half, a move that paid off as scrum half Conor Murray set Zebo away on his inside for a simple try.
Ireland, with flanker Rhys Ruddock one of the few fringe players to impress, made sure of victory seven minutes from time as replacement fly half Madigan jinked his way through the Argentine defence to score under the posts.
Meanwhile in Durban, opposing captains Victor Matfield and Alun Wyn Jones bemoaned a collective poor use of the ball in South Africa’s 38-16 victory over Wales in the first Test in Durban on Saturday, with both demanding improvement for the second match in Nelspruit.
The Springboks ran in five tries for a comprehensive victory in a disjointed contest as Wales committed numerous handling errors in the first half and South Africa followed suit in the second, having led 28-9 at the break.
