“Hard man, aren’t ya?” dismisses Peter O’Mahony. “That’s unlike you!”

The word scumbag is tossed in the air, only briefly turned acrid. The game had been gone long before Lavanni’s third early exit in an international shirt.

“I’ve been on the other side of that,” O’Mahony says later, away from the affray. “I was a little bit pissed off, you’re just trying to look after your buddy. It was just a timing issue.”

Time heals all wounds, even those that fester from meetings such as this. Less so nowadays.

The once toxic relationship with Argentina has been becalmed by Irish supremacy, now stretching to a nine-game sequence, this record margin more than doubling the usual average of a comfortable 15 points.

The World Cup defeats, all three of them, still scar the broader landscape and remain deeply embedded in the rugby psyche of all who support the national team.

After the second of those World Cup exits in 2007, we remember Ireland manager Brian O’Brien terming the fixture a “derby”, a word infused with all the visceral, sometimes violent baggage that attends such occasions.

One of the intriguing factors was that Felipe Contepomi, so beloved of Leinster, still jointly holds the record for most appearances in the contests.

It was predominantly more of a gory game rather than a glory game; latterly, the outings have resembled a bore-fest, rather than a gore-fest.

The historical stuff is nice, but rivalries are kept alive in the present; this one is in the past.

Andy Farrell’s are a team intent on living in the moment, neither burdened by past failures at the global showpiece, nor distracted by the promise of uncharted territories.

And they are laying new ground in doing so.

The substance of winning has not often eluded them in the past, but now they are finding different ways to do so.

Ireland’s chief rivalry these days, aside from the mouth-watering prospect of a fascinating Six Nations jousting with a revived France and England, is, arguably, with the All Blacks.

After all, Ireland and the Kiwis have played five times since 2016; in the same time, the Irish faced the Pumas just twice.

Ireland’s three victories against New Zealand reflect not only more substantial competition, but are a more accurate barometer of substantive progress.

And no more than Ireland seeking a better method of successful expression, Farrell is striving to create a template so that all of his squad can seamlessly do so; hence, the inordinate focus on this week’s change in the half-back positions.

In a side hampered by late withdrawals – bringing in a Lions captain hardly denuded the pack, initial width hinted that the transition would be smooth; an early knock-on from the in-form Garry Ringrose, perhaps, less portentous.

He would rarely err again, now thriving as a pass master.

Instead, it was the visitors who exploited the width, subduing an already less than feverish crowd with a stunning try as thirsty pint-swillers were settling in their seats.

Like last week, though, Ireland’s response to adversity was even-handed composure.

If anything, they were almost too eager to play, Tadhg Furlong spilling a wrap play, Conor Murray deflecting quick ruck ball forward; minor affairs, but disruptive to rhythm, as the Pumas revel in early, physical spoiling.

Nonetheless, a second maul try arrives with little fuss or exertion; hardly the requirement for sweet symphonies when a dull percussive thud suffices.

But Ireland are sloppy, subdued in scrum and breakdown, in moving away from the ruck, they found themselves isolated once too often; ambition denied but not delayed.

Perhaps it was too much to ask for a replica of last week’s astounding display, the hubbub of the crowd reflective of the insubstantial fare, thieved of rich intensity.

The game is done by the break; a third try demonstrating that Ireland can now eke out scores without exhausting themselves.

That it stemmed from a Murray box-kick, snatched wonderfully from the air by the otherwise subdued James Lowe, illustrated a seamless thread between old and new, as four phases later, not 24, Caelan Doris battered two men to score.

Murray often struggled, but Ireland plough on, the luxury of withdrawing their halves and switching Carbery to full-back, a broad canvas from where many feel he can be more expressive.

Ireland didn’t need to be here, apart from saying the last rites for an ancient enmity.