Farrell laments errors in ‘disconnected’ Lions’ Argentina loss

A slick Pumas side scored breakaway tries through Ignacio Mendy, Tomas Albornoz, and Santiago Cordero to clinch a deserved victory over the hosts at eighth attempt, squelching the Lions’ hopes for victory in their first game on Irish soil.

Farrell’s side will be traveling on Saturday and needs to get ready for their Perth, 28 June, tour opener against Western Force.

Farrell, who was in charge of his first Lions game, said, “We made it a tough game.

The Lions won a penalty try early in the second half, but Bundee Aki and Tadhg Beirne failed to score enough to defeat the world’s fifth-ranked team.

The story of the game is that we compounded too many errors and weren’t able to put the pace on the game that we wanted because of that, Farrell said, “You can try to throw it all around and say we had plenty of opportunities and we should have done better.”

Before facing Argentina, the Lions traveled to Portugal for a week-long training camp, but Farrell responded by saying he “wouldn’t give that excuse.”

We must perform better than that. He continued, “It is what it is.”

“The Lions players are good players coming together,” he said. We entrust them a lot of them, and perhaps we put too much pressure on them because it occasionally appeared unconnected.

Friday’s game against the Pumas was a chance for some to claim early selection given that Farrell was unable to play the sizable portion of his squad that won domestic championships last weekend (Ronan Kelleher being the only exception).

Farrell responded when asked what advantages the defeat might have, “Some people will have done themselves proud,” without mentioning any particular players.

Because they are all team members, he continued, “They’ll hurt the team.”

On Friday, the Lions fielded 14 debutants and named a new captain, Maro Itoje, who described his first start as the team’s skipper as a “spectacular occasion,” before refuting Farrell’s depressing comments about the performance.

We repeatedly pressured ourselves, but we weren’t accurate enough at times and inconsistent enough, Itoje said.

It will come as we strengthen our relationships and spend more time together learning about each other’s triggers.

Ronan Kelleher, Pierre Schoeman, Tadhg Furlong, Scott Cummings, Henry Pollock, Tomos Williams, Elliot Daly, Mack Hansen as replacements.

Santiago Carreras, Rodrigo Isgro, Lucio Cinti, Justo Piccardo, Ignacio Mendy, Tomas Albornoz, Gonzalo Garcia, Mayco Vivas, Julian Montoya (capt), Joel Sclavi, Franco Molina, Pedro Rubiolo, Pablo Matera, Juan Martin Gonzalez, Joaquin Oviedo,

Replacements: Santiago Grondona, Joaquin Moro, Simon Benitez Cruz, Matias Moroni, and Santiago Cordero.

Sin-bin: Vivas 45

Referee: New Zealand Referee James Doleman

Nika Amashukeli (Georgia) and Andrea Piardi (Italie) serve as assistant referees.