Joe Schmidt believes a lack of experience in his Ireland side cost them dear during their quarter-final defeat by Argentina.
The Pumas produced an outstanding performance to upset the odds and secure a 43-20 victory in Cardiff, starting and finishing well to advance to the last four. Ireland at one stage cut their opponents’ advantage to three points in the second half, at 23-20, having trailed 20-3.
With the key players Paul O’Connell and Johnny Sexton ruled out with injuries sustained against France in the pool stage, Schmidt praised those who stepped in and said they would learn a lot from the game.
“It was a performance that the players will learn from,” the head coach said. “There was a lot of players who have never been in a match of that intensity and hopefully that experience will offer something in the future. Certainly the dressing room is very disappointed.
“They [Argentina] made the most of those two chances early in the game and building that scoreboard pressure allowed them a real lift in confidence and probably dented the confidence of our group, some of whom were certainly not overawed by the occasion, but it was a very big occasion. It did make it difficult with the intensity they started with.
“Chris Henry and Jordi Murphy did a super job. Iain Henderson and Dev Toner were tireless and I think Ian Madigan acquitted himself really well. I’m incredibly proud of the way those guys stepped up.
“You can’t afford to give a team a head start like that and at 23-20 we even had a position in their 22 and worked an overlap that we didn’t go to. It’s probably a little bit of a lack of experience and that’s frustrating.”
The Argentina captain, Agustín Creevy, found it difficult to put his emotions into words. The result could see Diego Maradona return as a spectator and motivational speaker for the semi-final at Twickenham, which he previously promised to do should the Pumas reach the last four.
The coach, Daniel Hourcade, talked of his pride at the result and said his tears before kick-off were because his mother has been ill. He said: “I’m very happy. We have met our second objective which is to play seven matches in the World Cup. We are very happy because we played good rugby, the kind of rugby we want to develop, particularly at the beginning and end of the match. We are very happy.
“I obviously feel very proud at the way we played and won. We did everything to avoid a try at the end and that’s the heart that this team has. We are immensely proud of our players who are the main protagonists here. The staff behind me are also amazing. They work extremely hard and are also responsible for this success.”
On the team’s emotion beforehand he added: “It’s part of our DNA. We played with our heart in our hand, we feel it inside and the players showed this before the game and after the game. It’s the same for us [staff]. My mum is ill so that made me emotional, that’s all. With the anthem the emotion we feel translates on to the pitch.”
