Ireland breathe again

RUGBY: Irish rugby can breath a little more easily again. No matter the massive strides taken since the 1999 World Cup, the demons of Lens had to be exorcised. Ireland did so yesterday, but only after reviving them for much of a traumatic 80 minutes.

In inching home by 16-15 in Adelaide, Ireland have thus regained their birthright, a place in the last eight of the tournament. But there was enough nervous tension around the Adelaide Oval (virtually a small piece of Ireland on the day) to register on the Richter scale.

For much of the first hour Argentina were the better team, and not the least remarkable aspect of the game until almost that point was that Ireland were somehow winning, albeit by 10-9. Most of the colourfully green-bedecked 28,803 crowd had seemingly been as nervous as the team until then too, and it required Los Pumas to take the lead nearing the hour mark to bring team and crowd alike out of their torpor.

It was then that the first chants of "Ireland" reverberated around the ground. More out of fear than joy. It was then that the Argentinians wilted, especially in the lineout, and it was then that Ronan O'Gara started providing more oomph as the Pumas allowed more gaps. And O'Gara steered Ireland home. Just.

By the end the noise level had become so loud that you hadn't noticed it.

Asked, at the post-match press conference, if he was relieved, Eddie O'Sullivan merely laughed.

"Yes, there is a feeling of relief. There was a lot of pressure on today's game because the stakes were so high. There was a lot of tension and pressure on both teams, so there is a great sense of relief now that we've won our three games and we're in the quarter-finals."

The best-laid plans to disrupt the suspect Argentinian lineout took a little longer to materialise than hoped. "We struggled in the first half of the game to do damage to their lineout," admitted O'Sullivan. "We didn't get off the ground, but at half-time we rejigged the defensive system in the lineout and it paid good dividends in the second half and we poached some crucial lineouts.

"As the game wore on I thought our pack was a little bit fitter than theirs and we did try to move it a little bit further away from them. But the risks were high there because the ground was hard, the ball was bouncing around and a turnover could be a pretty high price."

With this result, Australia are also assured of a quarter-final place, thus leaving next Saturday's head-to-head in Melbourne's Telstra Dome as a straight duel for top place in Pool A and a quarter-final against Scotland as distinct from France. Judging by France's facile 51-9 win over the hapless Scots on Saturday, that's a prize eminently worth fighting for.

In the event of a draw next weekend, because of their superior points difference the Wallabies would top the pool unless Ireland earned a bonus point and Australia didn't. However, O'Sullivan, who highlighted the "massive difference" in a six-day as distinct from seven-day gap between matches, did hint that some of the battered and bruised may not be wheeled out against Australia. "That game was as physical a game as we've been involved in at any time. So we are going to have to review everybody tomorrow (Monday) from a fitness point of view. There are a lot of guys fairly well beaten up, so I'm not saying we're resting anybody. But we'll have to see how the days pan out."

Inevitably, that hoary chestnut of who will play at outhalf is bound to get a new airing, although O'Gara's impact has to be measured against the slightly relieved pressure he was under compared to Humphreys. O'Sullivan said: "I felt we were trying to play the game too much in our own half at the start of the second half and the wind had died down a bit. We really needed to take Argentina through a couple of phases and pin them back in the corners.

"We went through a ropy patch where we weren't really doing that to the extent we wanted. David had got in possession a few times and had guys running at him from all angles, so I felt that we'd get Ronan on and put that picture in his mind."

The danger in that, admitted O'Sullivan, was that it can take a while for a player to settle in. "But he did take control of that area and it was very important."

O'Sullivan hadn't given much thought to facing Australia next week, such were the demands of this game, but he didn't fail to notice a few barbed comments in Ireland's direction, mostly from his counterpart Eddie Jones, about Ireland's IRB ranking of third in the world.

"I suppose it's a game we're going to go out and try and win, no matter what happens. Now that we're back at number four in the world the pressure is off, it's back on Australia as they're number three and Eddie Jones will sleep better about that tonight," said O'Sullivan.

O'Sullivan was asked if, when Ignacio Corleto landed a drop goal in the 59th minute to put the Pumas 12-10 ahead, he had a sinking feeling, reminiscent of Lens.

"I didn't get a sinking feeling but my life did flash before me," he smiled. "But I will make one request now, that in future we don't mention the two words Argentina and Lens in the same sentence at an Irish press conference. Thank you very much."

And good night.