Once again Ireland bumped their heads against the glass ceiling of a World Cup quarter-final and failed to make it any further. For all the spirit of a second-half fightback in which they came within three points, Joe Schmidt’s side were ultimately unable to recover from going 17-0 down during a blistering start from Argentina.
As Ireland chased the game in the closing stages, the Pumas pulled away again, their handling and execution vastly better at crucial moments in the contest.
We will never know how different the contest might have been, had Ireland not lost Paul O’Connell and Jonathan Sexton to injury, but there could be no doubting that Argentina deserved their victory on the day, scoring four fabulous tries, the last a triumphant run-in from Juan Imhoff that underlined his side’s superiority.
Perhaps the early start had flummoxed Ireland. Before they had even brushed the sleep from their eyes, Argentina had scored two brilliant tries and taken a 14-0 lead.
The first came in the fourth minute, after Joaquin Tuculet had reclaimed a high kick from Juan-Martin Hernandez, Pablo Matera provided further momentum and the ball was moved smoothly, swiftly to the right, where Santiago Cordero drew his man and put Matias Moroni into the corner.
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Six minutes later, Cordero was once again the provider. The pace and variety of the Pumas’ play was proving difficult for Ireland to handle and, when Cordero kicked cleverly ahead on the right, Juan Imhoff edged ahead of Rob Kearney in the race for the touchdown and grounded the ball fractionally before crossing the dead-ball line. Nicolas Sanchez kicked his second conversion and Ireland looked shell-shocked, all the more so when a penalty goal put Argentina 17-0 ahead.
These are the moments when a team looks to its leaders, the players of experience, but O’Connell and Sexton were both looking on from the stands and soon Ireland also lost Tommy Bowe to injury, replaced by Luke Fitzgerald.
A ray of hope for Schmidt’s side came when Argentina were reduced temporarily to fourteen men as Ramiro Herrera, the prop, was sent to the sin-bin for a late challenge on Keith Earls.
A penalty from Madigan was cancelled out by another three points for Sanchez, but Fitzgerald gave his side a lifeline when he was put away down the left by Robbie Henshaw and veered inside to score.
So Argentina led 20-10 at half time and Ireland came again after the break. Once again Fitzgerald was involved, bursting through the Argentine defensive line and finding Jordi Murphy on his shoulder in support. Madigan’s conversion reduced the gap to three points. Game on.
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Madigan and Sanchez exchanged penalties again and then, in the 60th minute, Madigan had the chance to draw Ireland level, but pushed his penalty goal attempt from 45 metres wide.
As the pressure tightened, Ireland’s play became increasingly error-strewn and the Pumas needed no more encouragement. From a scrum on the right, the ball was moved smoothly left and Joaquin Tuculet worked his way over, then Juan-Martin Fernandez Lobbe dummied and flipped an inside pass to Imhoff, whose surge to score his second try meant that Ireland are still waiting to reach a World Cup semi-final.
Another success for the southern hemisphere and this is beginning to look a lop-sided tournament.