Keenan, Baird and Beirne reflect on win over Argentina

Ireland started the home leg of the Nations Championship with a comfortable 42-12 win over Argentina in Dublin.

Player of the match Hugo Keenan, who scored a hat-trick of tries in his first home Test in nearly two years, spoke after the game.

On his return after injury: "It's been 21 months since I've been here in green and it's been tough watching on. A bit like the rest of the lads, just delighted to be out there."

On his favourite try of the three: "It was at the end of three good plays, they were walk-ins. We got a bonus point playing against a really tough Argentina side. To beat them by 30 points and not play to our full potential is exciting because there is a lot to work on and get better at."

Ryan Baird, who featured for Ireland for the first time in 12 months, described his pride at playing international rugby after an injury-plagued spell.

"I had a few tears walking out of the tunnel before the anthems, how tough the journey was to get back here, just to soak it all in. I had the self-belief I would get back. Nothing is ever guaranteed, but it was something I had my eye on and it meant a lot."

On Ireland's performance: "I think it shows us we're good enough, but we have to do it consistently. They're a great team and pushed us to the end, but I think we have a bit more in us to keep that edge until the end."

Tadhg Beirne, who captained Ireland after Dan Sheehan went off injured, added: "I think we were very good in patches and some of the tries we scored were proper team tries but we'll be walking away from that game thinking we could have got a lot more out of it."