Short-term pain, long-term gain is the message – and centre Bundee Aki has urged The British & Irish Lions to re-focus quickly as they prepare to fly to Australia.

The Lions cut a bunch of frustrated figures after losing their first match of the summer, as Argentina edged to a narrow 28-24 victory in The 1888 Cup.

Head Coach Andy Farrell admits he was disappointed with his team's performance, insisting they should have been better than they were after a two-week training block, while captain Maro Itoje said there were not as consistent as he would have liked in an absorbing 80 minutes in Dublin.

Argentina scored three excellent tries, including a stand-out finish from Santiago Cordero in what proved to be the winning moment, but the Lions had chances to win it late on with a sustained period of pressure inside the 22.

They were not able to punch through but they did score three tries in Dublin, including one for Aki, were excellent at the scrum and played with enough creativity and intensity to suggest a very bright summer lies ahead.

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“Faz set out the aim for us to win every single game,” Aki said.

“To not be able to come out with the result that we wanted in the first game, this has got to be one of those things that we learn from quickly.

“We’re adults, we’re old enough to be able to take it on the chin and move on quickly. Faz gives it to us straight, there’s no mucking around or no hiding here, he just tells you how it is.

“There’s no point in trying to sulk about it. If we bounce back quickly and try to get better every single day, this will only make us stronger and tighter.”

Aki’s try was the first for the Lions this summer and it was a trademark finish, as he muscled his way through two tackles and dotted down.

Argentina led 21-10 at half-time but the Lions re-grouped and scored two tries in quick succession, a penalty try following a rolling maul and a Tadhg Beirne score after an excellent Ellis Genge break.

Aki was partnered in the centres by Sione Tuipulotu but admitted they were unable to gel as he would have liked.

“We all know how Sione is as a player, he’s class. The frustrating thing for me was I wasn’t able to connect well with him,” Aki said.

“He’s an unbelievable player and there’s no excuses, we’ve got to get better as a partnership going forward.

“Whoever plays – Garry Ringrose, Huw Jones, Elliot Daly – as a unit we’ve got to make sure we gel together and try to get that cohesiveness fairly quickly because we need to be better.

“Sione has been my roomy lately. He snores a fair bit at the moment, so he keeps me up at night! But he’s a great man.

“He speaks out loud, which is good because we need him to be himself. I just feed off him and he feeds off me. So it’s brilliant, but we’ve just got to be better and keep learning together.”