Ireland defeated Argentina by a record margin at the Aviva Stadium to finish their Autumn Nations Series with three wins from three and flanker Josh van der Flier scored two tries in the 53-7 win.
Van der Flier scored a try in each half as Ireland were totally dominant over Los Pumas in Dublin, following up impressive wins over New Zealand and Japan with another big victory.
He said: “Yeah it was obviously great from our perspective, we did the things that we wanted to do, we won the gainline, the ball carrying was good and we fronted up defensively as well.
“Argentina are a good side, they’ve had a very tough run of games, and we knew we needed to stick with them at the start and they always start well.
“They’re very physical, so we knew if we fronted up that way, then it could be a good day for us, so it was very pleasing to put in a performance we were happy with.”
One of the main things that Van der Flier was happy with was the Irish defence, something which has been particularly impressive over the course of the Autumn Nations Series.
“It’s very pleasing, we got the basics right, the ruck was good, the tackle was good, defence has been good over the last three weeks,” said the 28-year-old.
“I think when you get those things right it allows you to play the game you want to play, so it’s been very pleasing and enjoyable rugby to play.”
Ireland’s impressive set of wins this Autumn, alongside France and England, who also completed a clean sweep, has got many people already casting an eye on the Guinness Six Nations, which is something that van der Flier is excited about, despite not discussing it as a squad.
He added: “Yeah it’s great, we haven’t talked once about the Six Nations, but it’s very pleasing, (we go) back to our provinces now, we’ll beat each other up over a few inter-pros over the next couple of weeks and then we’re back in for the Six Nations so yeah it’s very exciting.”
