DUBLIN — This was hardly the send off the British & Irish Lions envisaged. As they tested out new-look combinations after a fortnight or so together, uncharacteristic errors against an energetic Argentina team saw them lose 28-24 to the Pumas in Dublin on Friday evening.
The sloppy defeat served as a timely reminder of the scale of the task facing coach Andy Farrell as he looks to build a team in the next four weeks capable of winning a Test series for the first time since 2013 against Australia.
Off the back of this, there are several issues for Farrell to iron out even before they have left home shores with the lineout malfunctioning and the tourists not yet living up to the sum of their parts.
Instead, this was a famous night for Argentina.
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It was their eighth match against the Lions in a fixture dating back to 1910, but their first victory. “We ask a lot of the players and maybe we put too much pressure on the side as it looked like we were disconnected at times,” Farrell said afterwards.
Straight into the fire
It simply didn’t go quite to plan for the Lions in what was meant to be a festival celebrating one of the greatest institutions in sport. In front of a sold out 51,700-full Aviva Stadium, any suggestion of this being a mere “warm-up” match, or a Lions cash-grab, was dismissed out of hand by Farrell this week. He called on his team to play with a Test intensity from the outset.
He emphasised the need for Friday’s team to impress as there were players in the stands waiting for their opportunity once the team gets to Australia. This was the starting line for the sprint to get a Test spot. Instead, it was those in blue and white who gate-crashed the Lions’ farewell party, and danced along the touchline as they secured a famous victory with the magnificent fly-half Tomaz Albornoz at the centre of everything they did brilliantly.
So instead of riding the wave of an opening victory all the way to Australia, the Lions depart with a few bruises.
“We can only get better from here,” Bundee Aki said afterwards. “We have nine games ahead of us and none of them will be easy.”
The Lions lost four lineouts on their own throw, while player’s nerves and unfamiliarity with one another saw uncharacteristic errors creep in. An element of sluggishness is to be expected given this is a group who’ve never played together, but still, it was an underwhelming performance and hardly the start the Lions would’ve wanted.
Of course, the true importance of Friday’s match will only be fairly judged in time. If they win in Australia, this match was the dodgy first chapter of a famous tour. But if they lose Down Under, this match will be retrospectively analysed and picked apart, looking for any early signs of forthcoming decline.
Every street in Dublin seemed to have a mixture of Lions red and cowboy hats and denim, a delightful mixture owing to the other main event in town this weekend. Hotel prices were through the roof, with this part of the world also dancing to the sound of country music star Zach Bryan, with 180,000 fans expected to attend those three nights at Phoenix Park, three miles or so from the Lions’ den at the Aviva Stadium.
This stadium was sold-out, the sea of red putting down their towels in preparation for the next six weeks which culminate in those three Tests in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.
Supporters sported newly-bought jerseys from this crop, or dusted down well-worn mementos from previous tours. There were familiar faces everywhere with Ugo Monye, Owen Farrell, Jamie Roberts, Paul O’Connell, Dwayne Peel and Alun Wyn Jones all spotted on the day of the match.
Jones captained the Lions in their third Test in 2013, and was tour captain in 2021. He retired from the sport in November 2023, and having since watched the Ospreys and Wales in person, he saw this Lions match as an opportunity to get some sort of closure on the third and final pillar of his remarkable career.
He watched on as the 2025 group started their journey. And there were naturally growing pains.
Signs of promise are there
With nine England players in the starting line-up, there were some familiar combinations in play — like Northampton and England duo Alex Mitchell and Fin Smith linking up at half-back — but this was the first time this group of players took to the field together, with eight first-time Lions in the team. We saw Bundee Aki and Sione Tuipolutu together in the centres — a combination we could well see again for the Test series — while the back-row brought together the nimble trio of Jac Morgan, Ben Earl and Tom Curry.
The second-row of captain Maro Itoje and Tadhg Beirne also had the look of a Lions Test pairing. But that’s still guesswork. It’s matches like these which will mould the eventual line up which will face Australia.
Argentina were without approximately six starting players due to club commitments in France but were brilliant. The standout player on the field was Albornoz and he orchestrated everything with consummate ease. And it was the Pumas who started quickly, with Ignacio Mendy opening the scoring as he left Marcus Smith and Duhan van der Merwe stranded to dot down.
By that point, the Lions had already had a try disallowed for Luke Cowan-Dickie for a knock-on, while Tuipulotu had another chalked off in the 17th minute for another knock-on. But it was Aki who got the Lions’ first try of the 2025 series when he went route one to skittle the blue and white defence.
But that was the Lions’ highlight of the first-half. Morgan and Tommy Freeman impressed, while Fin Smith did well at fly-half, but they were disjointed, their lineout erratic. And they were defensively uncertain, caught between philosophies perhaps, and on the stroke of half time, Argentina pounced on a loose ball just outside their own 22 with Albornoz flying over under the posts. It was a special try, giving Argentina a 21-10 lead at the break.
The Pumas looked far more familiar — understandably so — but the crowd was expectant. They welcomed any and every time the Lions opted to kick for the corner over taking a kickable penalty, while there were a smattering of muffled groans whenever they opted to box kick in an attacking position. And after the break, the Lions played with a higher intensity as they forced a penalty try after 46 minutes with loose-head Mayco Vivas sin-binned in the process.
And from there, Farrell’s side pushed on. A storming break from Ellis Genge in the 53rd minute gave the Lions field position and after Marcus Smith had ignored the free Van der Merwe, the ball found Beirne who crashed over.
With the conversion, the Lions had a three-point lead. But that was where the Lions stalled and Argentina would not go away. In the 58th minute Santiago Cordero chased a brilliantly-weighted kick from Matias Moroni to dot down ahead of Marcus Smith. As the Lions pushed in the closing stages, they managed to find some accuracy on their lineout (at last), but Argentina’s defence stood tall and as they kicked the ball off at the end into a sea of red, it was the Pumas who were partying.
The aftermath and a quick turn around
So now comes the process of throwing this forward. That’s the beauty of the Lions tours. As every match passes and the Tests creep closer, those who watch the sport will be picking their starting XV for July 19 in Brisbane.
Tommy Freeman impressed on the wing while the front-row duo of Ellis Genge and Finlay Bealham was solid. The Aki-Tuipolotu partnership is a work in progress, while Marcus Smith and Van der Merwe were both caught out defensively at fullback on occasion. The lineout needs some stern attention, but the scrum itself was largely sound.
Tadhg Furlong got essential minutes off the bench having been out injured since mid-May but still, the defeat will sting. “Losing hurts, especially in this jersey,” Farrell said. “We need to find solutions quickly and be honest with ourselves. There has to be some good coming from this.”
This was an occasion where nostalgia blurred with the sizeable task ahead of this group. There were Lions legends of yesteryear constantly popping up on the big screens in the Aviva: Brian O’Driscoll was met with a humungous Dublin cheer, Sir Ian McGeechan with warm applause and appreciation. The mission for those who played against Argentina and the rest sat in the stands is to build themselves into Lions folklore. That’s the mission for this group.
They are searching for their first series win since 2013 and the chance to etch their names in history.
But this was an error-strewn performance from the tourists, and instead, it was Argentina’s day.
Source: espn.com