Maro Itoje bemoans ‘tippy-tappy’ rugby as British & Irish Lions captain admits they only showed ‘glimmers’ of quality against injury-hit Argentina during shock defeat

British & Irish Lions captain Maro Itoje said his team would have to learn quickly after they played ‘tippy-tappy’ rugby and their 2025 tour began with a shock defeat by Argentina in Dublin.

Ahead of the hotly-anticipated visit to Australia, Andy Farrell’s side were beaten 28-24 at the Aviva Stadium by a Pumas side missing several key players. It all amounted to a false start for the Lions. Itoje vowed he and his players would have to move on from the mistakes they made ahead of travelling to the southern hemisphere on Saturday.

‘At times we were playing tippy-tappy and that’s not what we want to be. We want to be an aggressive team,’ Itoje said. ‘We were nowhere near as accurate or as consistent as we wanted to be. We only showed glimmers of what we can do.

‘We didn’t consistently apply pressure. We let them off and they caught us slipping at times. But we are building. We would have liked to have been kicking off right from the off.

‘It wasn’t quite that, but we will live, learn and get better. Argentina showed us where we are lacking. I am happy we had a hard-fought game. This is only match one.

‘We showed signs of what this team can be.’

Captain Itoje said his team would have to learn quickly after they played ‘tippy-tappy’ rugby

Argentina upset the British and Irish Lions by claiming a 28-24 victory in Dublin on Friday night

‘At times we were playing tippy-tappy and that’s not what we want to be,’ Itoje said post-match

The Lions scored through Bundee Aki, a penalty try and Tadhg Beirne.

And while their attack showed signs of promise and their scrum was dominant, Farrell’s players paid the price for too many errors. They also struggled at the line-out. Argentina No 10 Tomas Albornoz ran the show and was player of the match for an 18-point haul. ‘We made it tough. Argentina thoroughly deserved to win. They capitalised very well on quite a few errors by us. It’s a big moment in Argentina history,’ Lions head coach Farrell said.

‘The whole story of the game is we compounded too many errors and couldn’t put the pace on the game we wanted. We need to be better than that.

‘It certainly looked like we were a bit disconnected at times.

‘We’re not sugarcoating anything. We have to be honest and say it as it is.

‘Losing hurts, especially in this jersey. We need to find the solutions pretty quickly and there has to be some good that comes from this.

‘The scrum was aggressive and good and had Argentina under the pump.’

Farrell’s side were beaten at the Aviva Stadium by a Pumas side missing several key players

England prop Ellis Genge was a stand-out performer for Andy Farrell’s side at Dublin’s Aviva  

England prop Ellis Genge was a stand-out performer for Farrell’s side. At No 10, Fin Smith was also a positive. Farrell wasn’t happy with his team’s use of the ball.

There were a number of spilled passes at the line. However, the more time the Lions spend together, they will surely improve on this.

Farrell said the Lions attack was ‘clunky’ and criticised his players for a lack of desire when competing for possession on the ball.

He added: ‘I thought we created quite a bit at times but did not finish off them off. When you try and force too many passes like that, subconsciously you lose a bit of confidence.’