Jac Morgan and Tomos Williams got their first taste of action in a British & Irish Lions jersey in the tour opener in Dublin but found themselves on the wrong side of a 28-24 defeat to Argentina.
It was the first time the Lions had lost the opening game of any tour since 1971, when John Dawes’ side were beaten 15-11 by Queensland in Brisbane. That went on to become one of the most successful tours of all-time, with the Lions winning the series 2-1 in New Zealand.
They also lost their first game on the 1955, 1924 and 1903 tours in South Africa. They recovered to win draw the series 2-2 in 1955.
Head coach Andy Farrell refused to sugar coat the performance that came as big shock to both him and the 51,700 sell-out crowd at the Aviva Stadium. The Lions flew to Australia the day after the defeat and will be hoping for a better result when they face the Western Force in Perth.
“We made it a tough game. Congratulations to Argentina, they thoroughly deserved to win the match and I’m sure that’s a big moment in Argentinean rugby history,” said Farrell.
“We had plenty of opportunities and we should have done better to convert them, but the whole story of the game is that we compounded too many errors.
“You can single out one thing but it’s not just one thing, it’s a compounding of quite a few bits. The amount of balls that we threw blindly, either to the opposition or the floor, is probably a stand-out.
“If you combine that with the kicking game and the aerial battle – and what is disappointing is scraps on the floor from that type of battle – it always seemed to go to Argentina. There’s a bit of fight and hunger from them that we can’t accept.
“Then you combine stuff at the breakdown, the lineout or whatever, and it’s too much. It’s too much when it all comes together.
“We need to be better than that. The Lions are good players coming together and we need to be honest because if we’re not honest, how do we gain trust with each other?”
The Lions only led for 12 minutes in the match as Pumas outside half Tomas Albornoz led Felipe Contepomi’s side to a famous first victory over the tourists.
LIONS V ARGENTINA
2025: Lions 24 – 28 Argentina
2005: Lions 25 – 25 Argentina
1936: Argentina 0 – 23 Lions
1927: Argentina 0 – 37 Lions
Argentina 0 – 46 Lions
Argentina 3 – 34 Lions
Argentina 0 – 43 Lions
1910: Argentina 3 – 29 Lions
Tries from Bundee Aki and Tadhg Beirne either side of a penalty try off the back of a powerful line out drive were the highlight for the Lions, but a Santiago Cordero breakaway try put paid to the home fightback.
Farrell can point to the fact he was missing 14 players who were involved in English and URC finals six days earlier for Bath, Leicester Tigers and Leinster.
“We’re not sugar-coating anything. There are certain things we said we were going to do and we need to own that and review that properly,” added Farrell.
“We’ve got to own it and take full responsibility. We are the British & Irish Lions, so we’ve got to own the right to take that jersey forward.
“It shouldn’t be heavy. We’ve got brilliant players within our squad and they need to embrace that.
“We asked a lot of the players and maybe we put too much pressure on the side because it looked like we were a little disconnected at times. We need to make sure we get something positive from this because it’s all about how we move forward.
“Some players will be happy and some players won’t and will be dying to get another chance out there. We’ve got to learn a lot of lessons from that.”
The Lions flew to Perth on Saturday to prepare or their first game on Australian soil next weekend. At least Perth is a happy hunting ground for the tourists, having won all five games they’ve played there down the years.
LIONS LOSSES IN FIRST GAME
2025: Lions 24 – 28 Argentina
1971: Queensland 15 – 11 Lions
1955: Western Transvaal 9 – 6 Lions
1924: Western Province (Town & Country) 7 – 6 Lions
1903: Western Province (Country) 13 – 7 Lions
LIONS IN PERTH
2013: Western Force 17 – 69 Lions
2001: Western Australia 10 – 116 Lions
1989: Western Australia 0 – 44 Lions
1966: Western Australia 3 – 60 Lions
1930: Western Australia 3 – 71 Lions