Georgian captain Ilia Zedginidze accepted the congratulations with a smile but his face couldn't mask the disappointment. For much of last night's World Cup clash at the Stade Gerland Georgia struck manfully to a simple game plan and frustrated Argentina to the point that the South Americans almost departed Lyon without a bonus point.

It took a try, his side's fourth, from left wing Federico Martin Aramburu six minutes into injury time at the end of the game to clinch a crucial bonus point. Zedginidze knew that his side had earned respect by virtue of their performance but his thoughts quickly turned to the weekend clash with Ireland in Bordeaux.

He admitted: "I think the next game against Ireland is going to be a lot tougher. They will try and video analyse what we did tonight and the areas that they feel they can exploit. We will try and improve on the mistakes we made today but it is going to be a very tough match for Georgia."

He added that what will be crucial at the weekend in Bordeaux will be his team's ability to concentrate for longer periods. "It's psychologically difficult. I'm talking about the ability to stay focused for 80 minutes.

"With our experience there is no way we can stay focused for two halves. It has happened to other nations in the tournament. This is the biggest step if you want to be able to compete. You cannot let up mentally as that leads to mistakes."

He then paid tribute to the support the Georgians received pointing out that 26 of their 30 players have played rugby in France before smiling ruefully: "We were hoping to resist more than that tonight."

Argentina coach Marcelo Loffreda took the opportunity in his press conference to articulate his unhappiness at the fixture scheduling that his team has had to endure, adamant that it was a contributory factor to a fractured preparation. "Of course we didn't have much time to prepare and recuperate and obviously we couldn't stay focused as much as we'd like to.

"It's been a very tough game. It's been a lot tougher than it normally is with only three days and we had to come down to Lyon. We only had Sunday and Monday before the game.

"We have done quite well for the first stage of the tournament and we were able to get the bonus. We reacted well in the second half. Georgia played well and we have been impressed by the way they played tonight.

"We took enough of the chances and that's what mattered. We lost ball and our passing wasn't good and we had to change our game plan a bit: but we played with a lot of intensity. We made the most of it. We need to go forward and now we must stop thinking about the past and go forward.

"In a tournament like this there is no easy game. It was the same for Ireland facing Namibia. It was a tough one for them. They (the smaller teams) do their best. The same thing happened to Ireland. You must never underestimate an opponent."

It's a lesson that Ireland won't need repeated come the weekend.