British & Irish Lions 24 - 28 Argentina: Pumas spoil Lions send-off party at Aviva Stadium

Despite the masses of pre-match excitement surrounding this new era of the Lions, it was Argentina that struck first, as Los Pumas were not in Dublin to make up the numbers. Tomoz Albornoz broke the deadlock after just five minutes with a well taken penalty.

The Lions would have two tries disallowed in the first half, in what was a frustrating first 40 for the men in red. England hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie had his seventh minute score chalked off, as the Sale man squandered the grounding from a rolling maul. Fin Smith would draw the Lions level after 10 minutes, before Los Pumas would grab the first try of the evening. The accolade went to wing Ignacio Mendy, who out-witted his opposite man Duhan van der Merwe with a side-step that left the Scot on the deck.

The Lions would then see a second try ruled out, after Sione Tuipulotu crashed in under the posts. It was a brilliant strike move straight from the line-out, yet Alex Mitchell's knock-on brought the play back for a scrum. However, fate would finally fall the Lions way, as a bulldozing carry from Bundee Aki blitzed through three hapless Pumas defenders for a 20th minute try. Fin Smith added the extras to extend his personal Lions points tally.

Albornoz would put Los Pumas back in front with a well-struck penalty five minutes later. The fly half would have the final word of the first half, as he sent a third penalty through the sticks, before he then stunned the Lions with a breakaway try. The Benetton man would then convert his own score on the stroke of half-time, for a 21-10 advantage at the break.

The Lions would strike first just six minutes after the break, with a Penalty Try awarded after an imposing maul pinned down the Pumas. Argentina prop Mayco Vivas was sent to the sin bin in the process, as he illegally halted a drive that was destined for the try-line. The tourists would back this up with another try at 54 minutes, as lock Tadhg Beirne crashed onto a short ball and broke a gap, which put the Lions back into the lead.

However, Argentina would re-find their footing, with a breath-taking try on the hour mark. The move started with Ben Earl being sold a dummy, before Los Pumas worked the ball up field at a blistering rate of knots. Matias Moroni then kicked through a perfectly weighted nudge, with Santiago Cordero one step quicker to the ball than the covering Marcus Smith.

One last Albornoz conversion extended Los Pumas lead to 28-24, with the four point lead holding firm for the blue and whites. It was an unforgettable win for Argentina, that will live long in the memory for fans of Los Pumas. For the Lions, its an underwhelming start, with all eyes now turning to Perth and the Western Force, for the opening match of the trip to Australia.

BRITISH & IRISH LIONS: 24

TRIES: 3 (Aki 20', Penalty Try 46', Beirne 54')

CONVERSIONS: 3 (F. Smith 20', 54', Penalty Try)

PENALTIES: 1 (F. Smith 10')

DROP GOALS: 0

YELLOW CARDS: 0

RED CARDS: 0

STARTING XV: 15. Marcus Smith 14. Tommy Freeman 13. Sione Tuipulotu 12. Bundee Aki 11. Duhan van der Merwe 10. Fin Smith 9. Alex Mitchell 1. Ellis Genge 2. Luke Cowan-Dickie 3. Finlay Bealham 4. Maro Itoje (c) 5. Tadhg Beirne 6. Tom Curry 7. Jac Morgan 8. Ben Earl

REPLACEMENTS: 16. Ronan Kelleher 17. Pierre Schoeman 18. Tadhg Furlong 19. Scott Cummings 20. Henry Pollock 21. Tomos Williams 22. Elliot Daly 23 Mack Hansen

ARGENTINA: 28

TRIES: 3 (Mendy 13', Albornoz 40', Cordero 59')

CONVERSIONS: 2 (Albornoz 40', 59')

PENALTIES: 3 (Albornoz 5', 25', 39')

DROP GOALS: 0

YELLOW CARDS: 1 (Vivas 46')

RED CARDS: 0

STARTING XV: 15 Santiago Carreras, 14 Rodrigo Isgró, 13 Lucio Cinti, 12 Justo Piccardo, Ignacio Mendy, 10 Tomás Albornoz, 9 Gonzalo García, 1 Mayco Vivas, 2 Julián Montoya (captain), 3 Joel Sclavi, 4 Franco Molina, 5 Pedro Rubiolo, 6 Pablo Matera (vice-captain), 7 Juan Martín González, 8 Joaquín Oviedo

REPLACEMENTS: 16 Bautista Bernasconi, 17 Boris Wenger, 18 Francisco Coria Marchetti, 19 Santiago Grondona, 20 Joaquín Moro, 21 Simón Benítez Cruz, 22 Matías Moroni, 23 Santiago Cordero