Clinical finishing from full-back Joaquin Tuculet and Imhoff for tries in the last 11 minutes also ensured Argentina would match their breakthrough achievement of reaching the last four in 2007.
Advertisement
The win was a huge leap in expectation for the world’s sixth-ranked side to topple the third-ranked, but Argentina did so with class.
Sanchez and Madigan booted penalties and Ireland was only 23-20 behind with 20 minutes left.
Argentina had the measure of Ireland in the forwards where Pablo Maera, Leonardo Senator and Tomas Lavanini controlled the collision area and they stationed a couple of their heavier players out wide to smooth the path of their outside backs.
Referee Jerome Garces had to check with his TMO, but Imhoff’s try was cleared of any suspicion of offside as the Millennium Stadium’s Irish contingent fell quiet in the realisation of just how hard their team was being hit.
“We knew there were going to be injuries and now it’s up to the lads to step up”.
It helps players develop more all-round skills, perfectly encapsulated in Cardiff on Saturday when All Blacks replacement props Charlie Faumuina and Joe Moody ran into gaps in the French lines and offloaded for tries.
Ireland responded with a second Madigan penalty to make it 23-20 after 53 minutes, but the out-half was narrowly off target from distance with another attempt as Argentina retained their slender advantage.
When asked if selecting Sexton carried any risk, Ireland head coach Schmidt insisted: “Not really”.
With Madigan making the conversions, the Pumas only led by three points, but in a similar pattern to the start of the match.
Ireland deserved credit for their comeback because for the first quarter-of-an-hour, it looked like Argentina would romp into the semi-finals on the back of a stunning display of total rugby.
Tommy Bowe suffered suspected knee ligament trouble amid yet more collateral damage for a patched-up Ireland, in Sunday’s quarter-final in Cardiff.
Schmidt laughed when asked if he fancied a crack at another World Cup with Ireland in Japan in four years’ time.
“I obviously feel very proud at the way we played and won”.
“We did well to get ourselves back in to he mix, but probably let ourselves down again”. I don’t think we were complacent, I don’t think we were thinking too much about the semi-final, but something was off that day unfortunately and they were the better team on the day.
Ireland captain Jamie Heaslip, standing in for injured talisman Paul O’Connell, said they had been their own worst enemy.
‘Our defence was off a few times in the first half and sometimes in these games you only get one or two chances and they took their chances. “We must be very accurate to cause them problems”.
Madigan’s kick left three points between them again and, once more, the Pumas’ discipline became ragged.
“It’s part and parcel of the game, we try to plan for that”, he said.
Advertisement
Rather than wallow in the disappointment of O’Connell’s global career-ending injury, Ireland’s players are treating his misfortune as a call to arms.
