Andy Farrell confident Ireland will bounce back against Argentina

In the last three seasons, one trait of Andy Farrell's Ireland is that when they do lose, they tend to produce a response.

Since they really clicked at the tail end of the Six Nations in 2021, they have generally responded well to defeats, or even sluggish performances.

It’s what makes Friday’s visit of Argentina to Aviva Stadium all the more interesting. Felipe Contepomi’s side have beaten South Africa, New Zealand, France and Australia so far in 2024, and as such will have no fear of an Ireland team that are potentially vulnerable after a flat display against the All Blacks last week.

If Farrell has reason for optimism, it’s that he’s consistently got a response from his side after a defeat.

In 2022 when they were trounced by New Zealand in their first Test, they came back to win the series in some style. When there were fears of a post-World Cup hangover for the opening game of this year's Six Nations away in France, they went to Marseille and secured a record win, while last summer they rebounded from a poor first Test defeat to South Africa, coming back to draw the series.

"That’s certainly been addressed," Farrell said on Wednesday, as he referenced Ireland’s bouncebackability.

"We’ve talked about that – our story – this week quite a bit. Lessons learned from those defeats have been really good for us actually in our development.

"It makes a loss that hurts a little easier to take if that’s the case so there’s a determination to make sure the same thing happens this week."

In the days after that first Test defeat to the Springboks in July, both Farrell and his players have spoken about how the Ireland head coach went in hard on his players, delivering a verbal kick up the backside.

That approach can only work so often, and