Ireland head coach Andy Farrell said his side held their nerves and were ‘almost there’ after they came through a chaotic Autumn Nations Series match against Argentina with a nail-biting 22-19 win.

Clearly driven after their 19-match unbeaten home run was ended by New Zealand, Ireland raced into a 12-0 lead and were 13 points ahead at half-time.

But Ireland struggled against a resurgent Argentina in the second half and were held scoreless, with the Pumas just missing out on a historic first win on Irish soil.

“It was three or four games in one, right?” Farrell said.

“The overriding feeling is of course that we are very happy with the victory. There are some things we had to learn from last week and some things we didn’t address on the field.

“We said last week we had a chance to win ugly. We did that this week, so that’s a plus.”