Ireland give Farrell plenty of food for thought

Unlike the 23-13 defeat by New Zealand last weekend, Ireland showed flashes of brilliance in the first half against Argentina, but the wheels came off in the first 20 minutes of the second period on Friday.

The Irish hung on to beat the Pumas 22-19 but have more daunting Tests to come against Fiji next Saturday and then the return of their old boss Joe Schmidt with Australia.

AFP Sport highlights three key points surrounding the Irish:

Sterling defence

This is definitely one positive for coach Andy Farrell's men. The line-out and at times the scrum have not been functioning well but fortunately the defence has been generally outstanding.

Two try-saving tackles in the All-Blacks defeat were followed by incredible defence in the final few minutes of the first half against the Pumas.

Indeed, running in at half-time at 22-9 up, having stopped the Argentinians from scoring, seemed to have set up the Irish for a comfortable win.

However, ill-discipline and bad game management once again plagued them, and the Pumas scored 10 points.

It was only more sterling defence in the final couple of minutes deep inside their 22 that secured victory.

Farrell admired the fact his team were "standing tall" and "staying in the fight."

"Look at the field position they had probably through lack of discipline," said Farrell.

"To be fair to Argentina, the access that they've had over the last six months in the opposition 22, their conversion rate has been outstanding.

"So how we kept them out is testament to us to be able to win that game."

Sloppiness frustrating Farrell

There is no place to hide when you are a coach and on several occasions in the second-half Irish TV captured Farrell putting his hands to his head.

"A few times they caught me doing that," said Farrell.

"They could have caught me a few more times doing that."

The reason? The same sloppy handling errors and lack of discipline that prevented them establishing any sort of rhythm against the All Blacks.

Players who in the first 40 minutes against the Pumas had been running the show and making the right decisions, like fly-half Jack Crowley, suddenly were doing the opposite.

"We were flowing," said Farrell. "We come off the top of a lineout way over the gainline with Jamie Osborne, Caelan (Doris) comes around the corner and we're way over the gainline again and we're through.

"Then there's a lack of composure on the back of it. That's the frustrating thing because we did a lot of good, we just didn't convert it.

"Of course, good teams have a say in that but we need to be better in that regard."

Out with old, in with new

A question that has come up in the past two weeks with Farrell has been where the injection of fresh faces is.

To which he has replied that in contrast to England, South Africa and New Zealand he does not have the same numbers to pick from.

Many of the starting XV are the wrong side of 30 though Farrell has always been one for conservative changes rather than a total overhaul.

However, seeing 37-year-old Cian Healy -- equalling Brian O'Driscoll's national record of 133 caps -- and Peter O'Mahony, 35, run on as replacements adds to the frustration of those calling for changes.

Farrell could point to him blooding 21-year-old fly-half Sam Prendergast and prop Tom Clarkson, 24, both of whom performed well under pressure against the Pumas.

Prendergast might even have earned the starting spot against Fiji, although Farrell suggested that sweeping changes may not be made.

"What you don't just do is give everyone a game that's been unfortunate not to play so far," he said.

"If you're trying to work out how lads are going to cope at international level, you need to put good people around them to be able to judge them in the right manner.

"So there's a balance there."