PLAYER REACTION IRELAND:DON'T BECOME too excited with the wins. Don't get too down in defeat. Declan Kidney's adage of not taking his team on massive mood swings either way was easy to comprehend on sour days like this.

As the players reflect on Saturday's coldly straightforward narrative in Croke Park, they will ask themselves which game was closest to reality, the handsome win over Canada or the comprehensive defeat by the All Blacks.

Given their ambitions, the defeat will unsettle their hearts more than Canada's capitulation could gladden team spirits. Tomás O'Leary could not have expected anything other than a tempest and that's what he got. Still the Irish scrumhalf didn't duck.

"We were under an awful lot of pressure in the first half," said O'Leary. "We didn't play any rugby really. They played all the rugby and we were on the back foot. It was a very disappointing performance. I really don't think anybody can be happy with that performance, anyone in the team. Obviously we will have to concentrate on Argentina. That's a massive game now."

O'Leary's previous international experience was confined to two minutes on the wing, his promising displays for Munster earning him Kidney's approval. It is the first time he has ever faced such a daunting adversary and, frankly, he found the going difficult.

"The toughest thing was their physicality. I haven't come across that physicality. That's something we should have matched ourselves. It's something we are capable of matching. That's a massive disappointment that we basically didn't front up. We prepared well for it but just didn't step up.

"There's no good in talking about how good we are or our potential. It's something we had to produce. That's why I'm a bit down."

For the few thrills Ireland conjured, Luke Fitzgerald was invariably involved. The young Leinster centre, alongside flanker David Wallace, provided the crowd with a few cameo runs. Fitzgerald even moved All Black coach Graham Henry into picking him out with captain Brian O'Driscoll as the players who caught his eye. Marginally more upbeat than O'Leary, Fitzgerald, who was replaced in the dying minutes, was also singing a similar tune.

"I was real disappointed that I got a cramp," said the centre. "I was real disappointed that I wasn't able to last the whole 80 with the lads. Disappointed to have to leave the pitch. I was happy enough but there were also one or two occasions, when I made a half break and the ball went to the deck. I'm pretty disappointed with that because you have to execute against these guys. You get limited opportunities against them so when you do you have to take advantage."

But Fitzgerald, despite his try-saving tackle early in the match, was, like several of his colleagues, unhappy about how the All Blacks were allowed to punch holes around the Irish defensive line.

"Yeh I'd a couple of good tackles but then again I slipped off one or two as well, so I was disappointed with that," he added, "You just can't do that with these guys. We did fight very hard. I don't think it was a physical thing but a few things just went wrong for us."

The next match is really the only place to bury the errors of the last. Argentina may ask different types of questions to the All Blacks but they may be every bit as testing for Ireland to answer.

"Now we have to look at the video and correct things for Argentina," said Fitzgerald. "You can't underestimate these guys. They are so tough to play against. Hernandez and Felipe, who I play with in Leinster, are just fantastic players. You can't take your eye off these guys. There is always massive pressure to perform and that doesn't change next week."

As ever, too, there were more questions than answers. There were more things to fix than admire. Why it didn't happen for Ireland was largely because New Zealand didn't permit it to happen. But even allowing for the visitors' dominance, Ireland failed to ignite.

"It just didn't turn around for us in the second half. I was very disappointed at that," said second row Alan Quinlan.

"Coming into the game we were confident that we could put them under a bit of pressure. We needed to hold on to the ball, try some phases and stretch them a bit. They had their homework done on us, they put a lot of pressure on us and it paid off for them.

"It was frustrating and everyone is disappointed," he added. "We hoped to make a bit of history today and it just didn't happen. We have to live with that. Certainly I think we're a better team than we were today. Just too many mistakes, too many errors.

"It didn't happen for us as a group. When you play quality teams there is always going to be pressure there. Unfortunately we couldn't cope with that pressure."