Keith Wood's Ireland secured a place in the quarter-finals of RWC 2003 after holding on for a tense 16-15 win over Argentina, flanker Alan Quinlan going over in the first half for the only try of the match.
The win was Ireland's first over Argentina outside of Dublin and guarantees them a berth in the quarter-finals, regardless of the outcome of their meeting with hosts Australia next week.
The Irish bided their time during this tight contest, allowing Argentina to run themselves ragged, before squeezing through at the death. But full credit must go to the Argentines, whose dominant forwards do not deserve to go out at this early stage.
Indeed, the Pumas started the match in terrific form -- using their mighty pack to bash Ireland onto the back-foot.
But for all their good ball-retention, they kept running out of ideas after a few phases and it was left to fly-half Gonzalo Quesada to keep kicking for position.
The veteran fly-half may not have Felipe Contepomi's ability to get his line moving, but he can definitely kick, and the Pumas were grateful to have him when he stepped up to open the scoring with a penalty kick in the seventh minute.
But Argentina's score focused Irish minds and they set about building the phases, but their movements were more heart than head, and the stoic Puma defence made them lose their train of thought.
With Ireland out-muscled up front, they set about trying to spin the ball wide, and with good reason, as inside centre Kevin Maggs looked determined to right ancient wrongs single-handedly.
When the try came for Ireland, however, it stemmed from forward pressure. A rare error from the back of the Argentina line-out allowed Wood to steam onto the ball before off-loading to flanker Alan Quinlan, who crashed over to take the lead after 20 minutes.
But Irish smiles were tempered by an injury suffered by Quinlan in the act of scoring, and the flanker left the field with a suspected dislocated shoulder.
The try was very much against the run of play and Argentina bludgeoned their way back into the game. But time after time -- with the line beckoning -- the Pumas suffered sudden and severe droughts of creativity.
Their inability to finish off good build-up work frustrated them, and Irish confidence grew as a series of Argentine raids stuttered and died agonisingly close to the Ireland tryline.
Humphreys soon added a penalty to his conversion, but his opposite man Quesada showed why he won the "Golden Boot" at RWC '99 by replying with a drop-goal and a penalty of his own, and Argentina went into the break one point adrift only.
Ireland continued playing their waiting game in the second half and seemed content to allow the Pumas to run themselves weary.
But Argentina now had a grip on the game and started to play it to their own liking, turning it into a forward-dominated slug-fest.
This wasn't what Ireland wanted and errors began to creep into their game as they tried to impose a little pace on proceedings.
Denis Hickie showed the way with a great break, and Ronan O'Gara was soon on the field in place of Humphreys to set Ireland's redundant backs loose.
But the fly-half's first clearance failed to find touch and Puma fullback Ignacio Corleto gathered to put the Pumas in the lead with a huge drop-kick from 45 metres out -- reminiscent, perhaps of Wallaby Stephen Larkham's effort in their 1999 semi-final win over South Africa.
O'Gara, however, made amends by stealing back the lead with two penalties, the second coming after a series of Argentine errors opened the game up and put the Irish within touching distance of the Argentine line.
The descent into running rugby suited the Irish and their confidence to run the ball grew, but they had trouble keeping their composure in the face of some frantic Puma pressure and Quesada again pulled his team within a point with a penalty goal.
With their last throw of the dice, the Pumas attacked from deep and Corleto sent hearts racing by cutting through the gainline. His pass found wing José María Nuñez Piossek in space, but he was dragged into touch, and referee André Watson sealed Argentina's fate by blowing for full-time.
Man of the match: Centre Kevin Maggs kept the Pumas guessing with some strong running in midfield, and made breaking the gainline look easy. The game would have been over long before time had Ireland utilised his strengths early in the game.
Moment of the match: Undoubtedly Keith Wood's break that lead to Ireland's try. The hooker skipped onto the ball with the energy of a 15-year-old before dummying -- yes, dummying! -- his way past the startled Argentine midfield. He then drew in Corleto to feed out the pass to the supporting Quinlan. A whole decade at the coal face -- with nine shoulder operations to his name -- but the "Raging Potato" is still going from strength to strength!
Villain of the match: The owner of the mystery fist that emerged from the Argentine second row during a scrum to knock Irish Prop Reggie Corrigan to the ground. The RWC citing commissioners will be licking their lips.
The Teams:
Argentina: 1 Roberto Grau, 2 Federico Mendez, 3 Mauricio Reggiardo, 4 Rimas Alvarez Kairelis, 5 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 6 Rolando Martin, 7 Lucas Ostiglia, 8 Gonzalo Longo Elia, 9 Agustin Pichot (c), 10 Gonzalo Quesada, 11 Diego Albanese, 12 Felipe Contepomi, 13 Jose Orengo, 14 Jose Nunez Piossek, 15 Ignacio Corleto
Reserves: Martin Scelzo
Unused: Patricio Albacete, Nicolas Fernandez Miranda, Martin Gaitan, Juan Martin Hernandez, Mario Ledesma Arocena, Santiago Phelan
Ireland: 1 John Hayes, 2 Keith Wood (c), 3 Reggie Corrigan, 4 Malcolm O'Kelly, 5 Paul O'Connell, 6 Simon Easterby, 7 Alan Quinlan, 8 Victor Costello, 9 Peter Stringer, 10 David Humphreys, 11 Denis Hickie, 12 Brian O'Driscoll, 13 Kevin Maggs, 14 Shane Horgan, 15 Girvan Dempsey
Reserves: Eric Miller, Marcus Horan, Ronan O'Gara
Unused: Shane Byrne, Guy Easterby, John Kelly, Donncha O'Callaghan
Attendance: 28803
Referee: Watson a.
Points Scorers:
Argentina
Pen K.: Quesada G. 3
Drop G.: Corleto I. 1
Ireland
Tries: Quinlan A. 1
Conv: Humphreys D.G. 1
Pen K.: Humphreys D.G. 1, O'Gara R.J.R. 2
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