'Our discipline at times was desperate' - Andy Farrell laments poor discipline but relieved with win

Ireland head coach Andy Farrell praised his side's ability to hold on for a tense win against Argentina at Aviva Stadium, hut he’s admitted they need to get a hold on what has become a "desperate" lack of discipline.

Farrell’s side were 22-19 winners against Los Pumas in a thrilling Test match, but were given a major scare against a determined Argentina, who came from 22-19 down and kept Ireland scoreless for the final 48 minutes.

With 32 minutes played, it looked like Ireland were cruising towards a morale-boosting win after Joe McCarthy pounded in their third try, but Felipe Contepomi’s side never wilted, with a huge defensive stand in their own 22 in the final minute seeing Ireland hold out for the victory.

"It was three or four games in one, wasn’t it really?" Farrell (below) told RTÉ Sport.

"Obviously the overriding feeling is we’re delighted to get the win. There were a few things we needed to learn from last week, and some things that we didn’t address on the field. But we said last week we had a chance of winning ugly. We did that this week, that’s a plus.

"We showed really good intent in how we started the game. We were direct, we were piling into them, we were hard to handle playing off quick ball.

"But we know the kind of side they are, they’ve improved out of sight. And the pressure they put on us, and that we put ourselves, obviously brought them back into the game and to cut a long story short, we held our nerve towards the end and just about got there."

For the third game in a row, it was Ireland’s discipline that invited their opponents back into the game. Just as they did against New Zealand, they gave up 13 penalties, conceding more than twice as many as their opponents.

While they have only conceded two tries