Ireland vs Argentina match report: Incredible Pumas stun Irish as Juan Imhoff double helps eliminate men in green

If any affirmation was needed, Argentina can be hailed now as a world force in rugby.

We have been accustomed to their players making fine, individualistic contributions to European clubs – one of those we have loved in the English Premiership, Juan Fernandez Lobbe, gave an stupendous loose-forward performance here – but a collective dip in effectiveness after they reached a first World Cup semi-final in 2007 suggested a flash in the pan.

The Pumas are through to a second one now, proving the last four years competing in the Rugby Championship has toughened them up and released a style of playing that is both dangerous and lovable to watch.

Only Ireland will know the extent to which they were stripped bare by the absence through injury or suspension of four first-choice players and the suspension of the openside flanker Sean O’Brien. Certainly, the Six Nations champions of the last two seasons were in no shape to hold an Argentina team emboldened by a settled line-up who had looked impressive in finishing second in New Zealand’s pool and are blessed with the good habits inculcated by facing top opposition so much more often than they used to.

With a home-based franchise set to enter Super Rugby next year, the Pumas’ professional set-up is as far removed from the thrown-together amateurs of a couple of decades ago as a brisk walk to the pub is from scaling Everest.

The image of Paul O’Connell, the leviathan lock and Ireland captain, sitting in the stands nursing his torn hamstring, drew a mighty cheer from Ireland supporters when it was flashed up on the big screens before kick-off. But once play was under way, every cut of the camera shots to O’Connell, Johnny Sexton and the other absentees became a gut-wrenching counterpoint to the efforts of those left to carry the fight on the field.

O’Brien may have been the biggest miss. His rampages in the loose might have quelled the verve of Argentina’s half-backs and stemmed the supply of ball to their dangerous runners Santiago Cordero and Juan Imhoff out wide. Imhoff has been a star deserving of greater acclaim for some time. His lavish dive after a powerful sprint gave him the second of Argentina’s tries in the final quarter – and fourth in the match overall – was a deserved indulgence.

For roughly the middle third of the match, either side of half-time, Ireland raged brilliantly against the dying of their World Cup light, and a sixth loss at the quarter-final stage (they have never been further). Led by the substitute wing Luke Fitzgerald – his madcap lunges spoke of a man with a point to prove when he came on for yet another injury victim, Tommy Bowe, in the 13th minute – they transformed an Argentina lead of 20-3 into one of only 23-20.

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Fitzgerald scorched to the line on the end of flat passes by Ian Madigan and Robbie Henshaw, then the scorer turned provider by bursting past Leonardo Senatore and offloading to Jordi Murphy – who with Chris Henry had started in place of the injured Peter O’Mahony and suspended O’Brien – on his shoulder. And the scores might have been level if Sexton’s fly-half stand-in Madigan had not pushed a 45-metre penalty narrowly wide in the 60th minute.

There were too many ifs and buts for Ireland, sadly. O’Brien might have improved their fortunes at the breakdown, although Murphy and the hooker Rory Best did sterling work to bridge that gap. Nicolas Sanchez, formerly a defensive lynchpin but now a pacy pivot to the Argentina style, had missed a kick for 23-3 before the Irish revival. The principal trouble was that when Bowe went off hideously early, with a twisted knee, Ireland were already 14-0 down.

The backdrop at a ground where Munster and Leinster have won European titles, and Ireland completed the 2009 Grand Slam, was a cacophonous Pan-Atlantic song contest – “Fields of Athenry” versus the South Americans’ standards, one of them whose words “ole ole, ole ola, cada dia te quiero mas” (“every day I love you more”) we might all begin to chorus.

How many of the colourful crowd expected such a blistering start? Argentina were so accurate in their breakdown work and their passing through the three-quarters, that another 60-pointer to go with New Zealand’s at the same venue on Saturday night looked possible.

The opening try by the centre Matias Moroni with two minutes gone was an all-court gem. Juan Martin Hernandez, midfield partner of persuasion to Sanchez, hoisted a kick that was chased and caught by Joaquin Tuculet ahead of Madigan. Pablo Matera made a mighty charge before Fernandez Lobbe flung a long pass to Cordero for a rapid feed to the exultant Moroni.

Sanchez’s conversion was followed within six minutes by Tuculet and Sanchez probing at high speed, and Cordeo on the right chipping ahead. Imhoff won the race against Rob Kearney and dotted down just before his knee hit the dead-ball line.

Sanchez converted and added a penalty before Ramiro Herrera went to the sin-bin for a shoulder charge on Keith Earls. A penalty apiece by Madigan and Sanchez preceded Fitzgerald’s try and during the third quarter a decision only to award only a penalty against Herrera for diving into a ruck was a let-off for Argentina.

The Madigan miss just before the hour was deflating. Then Devin Toner caught a stooping Sanchez with an accidental slap to the face soon afterwards and the margin was back up to six points – rugby’s equivalent of a marathon runner hitting the wall.

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Jack McGrath had strengthened the Irish scrum when he came on, but a Madigan punt directly into touch was another blow. Only a temporary doubt about the grounding of the ball prevented Argentine roars greeting the killer try when it came in the 69th minute.

Defending a scrum in midfield, Ireland’s three-quarters rushed forwards but they were outflanked by Hernandez and Tuculet, and the full-back squeezed in at the corner. Time for one more Lobbe flourish? For you, Cardiff, anything. The bearded wonder threw a wicked dummy before freeing Imhoff for the wing’s fifth try in this World Cup, and his 21st in 34 Tests overall.

It had been Imhoff’s hat-trick in the win over South Africa in Durban in August that had marked the Pumas out as a team in seriously good nick. The closing penalty by Sanchez to punish a late tackle by Earls completed Ireland’s frustrated despair.