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Argentina have secured a place in the World Cup semi-finals following an impressive 43-20 win over a depleted Ireland outfit.
The win means that Argentina will face the Wallabies in the semi-finals, with the All Blacks and Springboks to fight it out for the other remaining place in the final.
Argentina came out of the blocks early rushing out to a 17-0 lead, however the Irish would rally to claw the margin back to ten points at half time.
The Pumas would prove too good in the second half though, building on their lead to secure the 23-point win.
Ireland were heavily impacted by injuries in the lead up to the match, but Irish captain Jamie Heaslip refused to blame the loss of players for the result.
“It is obviously very disappointing to lose in such a big game,” Heaslip said.
“We didn’t help ourselves at the start but we fought back and came back into it.
“Argentina play a very expansive game and stretched us and we didn’t make it easy for ourselves at times.
“But fair play when we got back to three points they took their opportunities to kick on and we couldn’t take ours.”
Final Score:
Ireland – 20
Argentina – 43
Ireland meet Argentina in Cardiff for a spot in the Rugby World Cup semi-finals. Join The Roar for live scores, commentary and Irish-language puns from 11:00pm (AEDT).
Ireland surprised no one in easily winning their group (Group D), arguably the easiest of the lot.
They dispatched the constantly rocks-or-diamonds French, as well as the Romanians and Canadians, two teams never expected to give the Hibernians much of a shock.
Their only hiccup game against the unfortunately always-poor Italians.
However, in their last pool game, against Les Bleus, the Irish lost their talisman Paul O’Connell to an injury so bad it even hurts watching it. Flanker Peter O’Mahoney was also ruled out of the tournament.
Johnny Sexton – or, as he probably likes to be known, ‘The Irish Bernard Foley’ – is in doubt with a sore groin, Ian Madigan is ready to take his place.
Their other flanker, Sean O’Brien, is also out of this game as he’s been told to sit on the naughty step and face away from the class for accidentally ramming his fist into Pascal Pape’s stomach.
Argentina, on the other hand, are in rude health. None of their major players are out (at time of writing), which was probably helped by the fact that they played the big boppers in their group – New Zealand – first, and had an easier ride into the finals than Ireland.
Los Pumas’ form is ominous, with their traditionally strong pack – so strong that other countries poach their best former players to coach their own scrum – being complemented by an outrageously good backline.
It is ridiculous that a country that cares less about rugby than Australia, and was a tier-two nation not that long ago, has such a solid team, front to back.
Joe Schmidt and company have managed, in two short years, to mould the Irish into the best European team by far, which again is impressive when you consider that Ireland has a population of six million (plus diaspora, to be honest) and rugby is the second or third most-popular football on the island.
Prediction
This game should be more cracking than a Sao. Ireland’s injury and less-fizzy backline should mean that Argentina go through – just.
Argentina by 7
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.