JACOB Stockdale touched down twice to help Ireland finish 2017 with a third straight Autumn victory by defeating old foes Argentina.
The last time these sides met was in Cardiff two years ago, when Argentina hammered the men in green 43-20 in the World Cup quarter-final.
Ireland made amends yesterday with a fine firsthalf performance which saw them lead 13-0 at the interval.
The 21-year-old Ulster winger Stockdale scored Ireland ‘s first-half try and added a second two minutes after half-time, while CJ Stander scored a third try late on.
Argentina were very poor before half-time but regrouped and scored tries through Joaquin Tuculet, Juan Manuel Leguizamon and the impressive Ramiro Moyano in the second-half.
But Joe Schmidt ‘s Ireland were just too good and look in great shape heading into the Six Nations, while their new flying winger Stockdale is in top form.
“Joe challenged me during the week to get stuck into the game from the start and I felt I did so I ‘m pretty happy, “ said Stockdale “Argentina were always going to have their time in the game and it was disappointing that we didn ‘t perform the whole way through the 80 minutes.
“But it ‘s been a phenomenal experience, being surrounded by some quality players really makes it a lot more enjoyable.
“To get three big wins against three big nations is massive. “
Despite an early up-andunder from Conor Murray, Ireland spent the rest of the opening two minutes with ball-in-hand. Their direct lines and accurate passing allowed for Rob Kearney to break and they won a penalty deep in Argentine territory.
Argentina went off their feet and Johnny Sexton scored the penalty for a 3-0 lead after four minutes.
Argentina were on the back foot in the tenth minute with debutant Adam Byrne almost scoring in the right corner after a brilliant piece of ingenuity from Murray, who kicked cross-field for the Leinster winger, but he couldn ‘t get his hands to the ball.
Ireland were totally dominant and made a massive statement when they pulverised an Argentine scrum against the head, won a penalty and Sexton doubled their advantage in the 14th minute.
Ireland were awesome in the opening quarter and a delightful off-load from Chris Farrell sent Sexton through a hole in the Argentine defence, before he gifted Stockdale his second try of the autumn series in the 20th minute. Sexton added the extras and Ireland had already raced into a 13-0 lead. They were playing with a wonderful dynamism in their attack, while Argentina struggled to break down the Irish rearguard.
The score remained the same at half-time and it looked as though Ireland would stretch further clear on the resumption. The hosts looked to push home their advantage and Stockdale was on hand once again to show his class, and why his reputation continues to grow.
He burst through from midfield, off a pass from Sexton, and outpaced Tuculet to score in the right corner. Sexton ‘s brilliant touchline conversion gave Ireland a 20-0 lead but they had to do some defend defending for the next ten minutes
Argentina finally got their period in the ascendency and it resulted in a 55th minute try from Tuculet when he dived on the kick through from Nicolas Sanchez.
It was 20-7 after Sanchez slotted the conversion and when Stander scored for Ireland with 17 minutes remaining, that sealed the win.
Sexton missed the conversion but despite Leguizamon ‘s late effort, Sexton added a penalty before Moyano grabbed a deserved try when the clock was in the red.
