Ireland's starter at ten? The debate will only go on

Tomás Albornoz has been superb for the Pumas as they pushed through the back half of 2024 but Santiago Carreras was still their starting playmaker as recently as the third round Rugby Championship game against the Wallabies.

He has since started four games on the trot and earned 17 caps until now. You know who else had 17 caps before this? Jack Crowley. Who played all 500 minutes of the Six Nations and has started every game for Ireland since Johnny Sexton reached for shirt and tie.

But if Albornoz’s graph was pointing up at kick-off then the Munster man’s was experiencing its first dip. Taken off after 59 minutes in that second Bok Test in Durban, he was called in after 58 last week against the All Blacks.

These are numbers that pointed to a wandering eye on the part of his head coach Andy Farrell who has put no little trust in Ciaran Frawley. The presence of Sam Prendergast on the bench here made this an even bigger night for Crowley.

Here’s the thing though, sometimes less can be more. Damian McKenzie kept his magic powder dry last week but kicked six penalties in the All Blacks’ win and Albornoz needed his boot just to keep the Pumas in touch here.

It was Crowley who was standing out.

His opening try was a lovely step inside the loosehead and outside centre and there were more jinking feet near the quarter mark when he fielded a high ball and ghosted past two chasers. It showed confidence, and character.

Crowley’s input for Ireland’s second try, from Mack Hansen, was standard enough fare but he delivered a lovely skip pass for Tadhg Beirne’s disallowed score and his drop goal combined execution and smarts with Ireland down to 14 men at the time.

When Ireland survived an Argentinian onslaught at the end of the half it was Crowley who booted the ball to touch before sprinting off the field. The body language was clear as day as Dublin’s lights twinkled in the dark over the Havelock End.

That show of purpose didn’t survive the break as Ireland conceded ten points, three penalties, coughed up a yellow card and failed to deliver anything in attack with Crowley and Hansen kicking and passing in to touch respectively.

Farrell spoke after the Kiwi loss about Ireland’s habit of compounding errors and of forcing things, being too desperate. There was plenty of evidence of that and Crowley tackling Albornoz in the air was only one example among many.

Prendergast came in for him just past the hour, this man for the future wearing black boots and slim physique that harkened back to an earlier era but making his Test debut just moments after Ireland’s last attack had lost all its shape and holding a three-point lead.

Go seize the day, boy!

He certainly didn’t stand back. If bouncing back off a charging Joaquin Oviedo was a rude awakening then Prendergast had already played a delicious pump-fake-pass to James Lowe. In that one moment he looked like a Test ten.

There was a half-break and a (fraction too long) Garryowen thrown in too as the end game dawned and Ireland tried unsuccessfully to score for the first time since the 32nd-minute. A win it was, just about, but it left as many questions about Ireland as answers.

Are we any closer to closure on the tens? Probably not.