Flying Pumas will be hard to bring down

RUGBY: They've always had the ability, they still have bucketloads of experience, they have plenty of motive and now their confidence is sky high. Argentina's stunning, 24-14 win over the previously unbeatable French in their supposedly impenetrable fortress at the Stade Velodrome in Marseilles on Saturday certainly ups the ante for next Saturday's latest rendezvous with Ireland.

Prior to 1999, Ireland and Argentina had met only once, but this will be the sixth meeting between the countries in a little over five years, and such is the familiarity that the Ireland manager, Brian O'Brien, dubs it "a derby".

The roles keep flipping, and unlike the World Cup pool match in Adelaide, when Ireland won the most taut of encounters by 16-15, revenge is now the Pumas' spur.

They'll be buoyant after Saturday's win, perhaps the most eye-catching international result of the year. France, the reigning Grand Slam champions of Europe, had won eight from eight this year, and had beaten all-comers, including the Southern Hemisphere big three and England, in Marseilles.

After their commanding, 27-14 win over the Wallabies in Paris a week before, the Australian coach, Eddie Jones, had declared les Bleus as the best team in the world, which admittedly looked a little self-serving at the time.

However, on Saturday France were off colour after their emotion-charged win over Australia, and do often struggle against Latin opposition. The Pumas have now beaten them four times in a row, though the previous three had all been in Buenos Aires.

It was a typically muscular Pumas' win, with Agustin Pichot marshalling it all on his first appearance since the World Cup defeat to Ireland.

Afterwards he declared: "I hope that the world of rugby will now accept that we can beat the best teams in the world and that we deserve to be ranked among the best," said Pichot. "This is an important win for the future of Argentine rugby."

Long-standing coach Marcelo Loffredo praised his side for containing the French attack.

"I think that the French didn't play at their best because we put a lot of pressure on them and stopped them from developing their wide game."

Meanwhile, aside from blooding Tommy Bowe and Denis Leamy, Eddie O'Sullivan maintained there were a lot of benefits to be accrued from Ireland's routine, 55-6 win over the Eagles on Saturday, not least in that it was useful preparation for another clash with Argentina.

"There were no easy options today," he commented after the game. "Because of the conditions we had to go toe to toe. There was a fair bit of trench warfare, but they're the kind of games that stand you in good stead going forward. It mightn't be much different next Saturday against Argentina if it is dry. That's the kind of game they play, so there's some benefits in it for sure."

David Humphreys rated last week's win over South Africa as Ireland's best performance in his time at this level, but warned: "You look at our last few games against Argentina and there's not very often more than a score in it, so next week is going to be no different. I think after our two wins and two performances they're going to be massively up for it. They're going to see it as a huge scalp in the same way that we viewed South Africa.

"Look at the players they've got. They've got a very big, physical team, but I still maintain that if the team reach the level of performance they did last week against South Africa there aren't going to be many teams who will outdo us at Lansdowne."

The suspicion that this might be the toughest of the three autumn fixtures has been given more credence by the weekend's results.