Rock-like defence pleases Wyllie

No one quite expected to see the Argentinians arriving at Finnstown House Hotel in Lucan yesterday evening, and in truth not even themselves. But they were in upbeat mood ahead of their quarterfinal meeting with France at Lansdowne Road on Sunday.

As the Irish team dispersed following their arrival back from Lens, it was time for the Argentinians to regroup once again, something that New Zealand-born coaching adviser Alex Wyllie welcomed with an obvious hint of satisfaction.

"Whenever you have a game like that where there's so much at stake then obviously it's going to be hugely disappointing for the team that misses out," he said. "Whether or not the Irish played as well as they could I can't say at this stage. We have to look at the video again because watching things as they are means it's hard to make a judgment straight away.

"But a lot of the people I've talked to so far said it was one of the best games of the tournament for them to watch, and if that happened then that's something good.

"For us, coming into a game like this meant we had to try and be confident, but certainly not over-confident. The Irish approach was more or less as expected in that they moved the ball around, they scrummed well and their line-out work was good.

"But one of the things that has been pointed out is that the Argentinian defence has stood up well against tries throughout, with one of the lowest rates of tries given away. That was a good way to be.

"In the first half anyway the Irish gave it everything," added Wyllie. "I haven't seen the final statistics yet but as far as the territorial possession went then I feel they could have been well up. So we were pleased that we withstood that and were able to come back and score the try.

"There's been some criticism that we were depending too much on (place-kicker) Gonzalo Quesada as well but you can't kick scores from within your own area. When you're kicking goals you're on attack, and to be within kicking range then you can't be too far away from a score anyway."

It's hard to forget the relative ease with which Ireland dismissed the Pumas in their last outing, but that was something Wyllie was never too concerned about.

"A Test match is one thing, but we saw the game in France as a wee bit different as it was a neutral ground as far as we were concerned. And even though we still lack that bit of confidence when it comes to playing the bigger rugby nations, that confidence is growing now in both the team and individuals.

"I said it to them at half-time that I thought we looked tired for the first 15 minutes with all the pressure on us, but then in the last nine minutes of added time we had the morale to survive it. All the legs were tired, and one slip there meant we were the ones on our way home."

Despite their historic victory it appears the team didn't have any excessive celebrations in Lens on Wednesday night, not even the top-scoring Quesada. "No, there wasn't a whole lot of celebration," he said, as if the true significance had yet to sink in.

"The more the game went on the more we believed it was possible to win, but it wasn't until the last penalty that we were convinced. In the last three or four minutes we thought perhaps the dream would disappear but it also gave us great spirit to hold on."

Quesada talked of the many new elements that Wyllie has brought into the squad. "It's mostly been the discipline and reorganisation within the team," he says, "and building a character that was never there before. It's not just in the specific strategies of the game, but the simple things also, like what it means to be a team off the field as well.

"Obviously within the last two years the impact of this win has been the best, but the worst thing we can do now is to say we're happy to end it like this."

Which leads into their prospects against France, a team they haven't beaten in seven years. Can they go any further?

"I've put that very question to the team," said Wyllie, "and it's up to them now. We've already achieved more than any previous World Cup and as of Wednesday night everything else is a bonus.

"France have had plenty of rest in their build-up but there are good and bad things about having a long break. They are somewhat vulnerable at the moment and hopefully this is a good time to play them. But you know they can come any day and play like the best team in the world."