Under-21 World Championship Ireland v ArgentinaA significant World Cup victory over the much-fancied Argentina in Cournon this afternoon could prove fruitless for Ireland under-21s if results elsewhere go against them later this week.

However, despite the odds being stacked against Ireland after Friday night's 26-8 defeat to France in their opening pool game in Issoire, coach Mark McDermott is hoping to see his side take the next step on its developmental curve.

Such is the composition of the qualifying stages of the age-grade World Cups that, even after one game, Ireland require both Wales and South Africa to slip up in their remaining pool games if they are to progress to the semi-finals.

For McDermott, however, a repeat performance of Friday night would go some way to softening the blow of non qualification for the last four.

"I cannot fault the boys on Friday night in terms of their effort and commitment. Okay we lost, but we were within a converted try until second-half stoppage-time and perhaps deserved a little better," said McDermott.

"I was disappointed with certain aspects of our Six Nations' campaign. One of those was what I saw as a lack of bottle.

"On Friday, we overcame that problem and I am looking for a repeat of that effort against Argentina and then Georgia at the weekend."

Argentina also went down in their opening game, 20-16 to a highly-regarded South Africa.

McDermott has made four changes to the side beaten in Issoire. Captain and hooker Stuart Philpott is now on the bench. Seán Cronin takes over in the frontrow while Diarmuid Laffan replaces the injured Ross Noonan on the blindside flank, Fergus McRadden comes in for Conan Doyle at inside centre and Ian Hanley gets a start on the right wing. Michael Essex has been called into the squad to replace Noonan, whose thigh injury has ruled him out of the remainder of the competition.

Meanwhile, Setanta Sports are showing live coverage of England's match against New Zealand from the Stade Darragon in Vichy today at 6pm.

IRELAND UNDER-21S (v Argentina): F Carr; I Hanly, T Gleeson, F McRadden, M Williams; K Hallett, P Marshall; D Hurley, S Cronin, D Ryan, D McGowan, D Toner, D Laffan, D Pollock (capt), S O'Brien. Replacements: S Philpott, P Doran-Jones, D Touhy, B Holland, D Williams, J Sexton, D Cave