Ireland continued their fine November form when they beat Argentina 16-7 in a Lansdowne Road mud bath in Dublin, to retain their unbeaten run against the Southern Hemisphere opposition.
It was one try each, but flyhalf Ronan O'Gara kicked three decisive penalties -- two of them the only points in an otherwise austere second half.
The positives for the home team would be the great performance of their pack against the world class Puma forward pack -- particularly in the line-outs where they continuously harassed the visitors and stole numerous balls on the Argentina feed.
In the scrum they even had a turnover, although the Pumas had an edge in this department.
The big letdown for the Pumas was their discipline, with England referee Chris White constantly blowing them up for offences and O'Gara making the visitors pay.
Then there was the brilliant man-of-the-match performance by Irish fullback Girvan Dempsey, who not only scored his team's only try, but also stood firm in the face of numerous Puma high bombs in the wet weather.
Under the circumstances and in the conditions it was never going to be a free-flowing match, with both teams taking the kicking option rather than carrying the ball in hand.
From the outset parts of the field had been under water and the rain came down heavily during the match as well.
In the first quarter the Pumas certainly had the better of the exchanges, keeping the Irish pinned back in their own half with sound tactical kicking.
The first score came totally against the run of play, when Irish fullback Girvan Dempsey gathered the ball after is Puma counterpart Ignacio Corleto failed to control an up-and-under. He slid over and O'Gara added the conversion for a 7-0 lead after 20 minutes.
But the Pumas hit back straight away when Dempsey failed to control a Puma kick and the ball slid into touch.
The Pumas took a quick throw -- so quick the referee did not even see -- and Rolando Martin scored. But then the referee first consulted his touch judge, who ruled it a fair try, before the TV match official stepped in and said he would like to have another look at it. He eventually also ruled a fair try.
With less than ten minutes to half time O'Gara added a penalty to give his team a three-point (10-7) lead at the break.
After the break the weather let up somewhat, but it was already far too wet and the mistake-riddled play of both teams continued. The Pumas tried bravely towards the end, but having given away too many penalties they were never going to close the gap.
Man of the match: Who else but Irish fullback Girvan Dempsey? He pounced to sore his team's only try at a crucial stage in the first half and then when it mattered most -- in the second half -- he stood firm on defence. His most outstanding feat was his ability to collect and return all the high balls put on him … and there were many.
Moment of the match: It may not have won them the match, but the Puma try came so quickly -- not to mention the inventiveness of it all -- that the match officials took several minutes to confirm it. It shows they are not the stereotype team everybody thinks.
Villain of the match: The television match official. His actions to send one of the touch judges to tell the referee that he would like to have another look at the Pumas' try is not within his jurisdiction -- that law has not been changed and after the referee awarded the try it should have stood -- as it eventually did.
The Teams:
Argentina: 1 Omar Hasan Jalil, 2 Mario Ledesma Arocena, 3 Mauricio Reggiardo, 4 Rimas Alvarez Kairelis, 5 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 6 Rolando Martin, 7 Santiago Phelan, 8 Gonzalo Longo Elia, 9 Agustin Pichot, 10 Felipe Contepomi, 11 Diego Albanese, 12 Lisandro Arbizu (c), 13 Jose Orengo, 14 Gonzalo Camardon, 15 Ignacio Corleto
Reserves: Martin Durand, Juan Fernandez Miranda, Pedro Sporleder
Unused: Nicolas Fernandez Miranda, Jose Nunez Piossek, Martin Scelzo, Juan Jose Villar
Ireland: 1 John Hayes, 2 Shane Byrne, 3 Reggie Corrigan, 4 Gary Longwell, 5 Malcolm O'Kelly, 6 Victor Costello, 7 Keith Gleeson, 8 Anthony Foley, 9 Peter Stringer, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 11 Shane Horgan, 12 Brian O'Driscoll (c), 13 Kevin Maggs, 14 Justin Bishop, 15 Girvan Dempsey
Reserves: Leo Cullen, Marcus Horan, Alan Quinlan
Unused: Guy Easterby, David Humphreys, Geordan Murphy, Frankie Sheahan
Attendance: 40000
Referee: White c.
Points Scorers:
Argentina
Tries: Martin R.A. 1
Conv: Contepomi F. 1
Ireland
Tries: Dempsey G.T. 1
Conv: O'Gara R.J.R. 1
Pen K.: O'Gara R.J.R. 3
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