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Loffreda left perplexed

Marcelo Loffreda: Perplexed

Argentina coach Marcelo Loffreda admitted to being confused about referee Steve Walsh's ruck/maul interpretations during his side's 13-37 defeat to South Africa on Sunday, although he stopped well short of laying the blame for the loss at Walsh's feet.

Loffreda also admitted his players were their own worst enemies, in a match in which his side's errors were mercilessly punished by South Africa.

"I am very proud of my team and players but we were the victims of our own mistakes," said the future Leicester Tigers coach.

"We were beaten by a great team - they were markedly better than us.

"South Africa are very dangerous, and when they have space or when you make mistakes, knock-ons or drop the ball, they take advantage and score. We paid dearly for the mistakes we made."

Loffreda had some harsh words for Kiwi referee Steve Walsh, who penalised the Pumas a number of times at the breakdown.

"We could not understand the referee in the first half, he never explained what was going to on in the mauls," he said.

"We were twice done for obstruction, but they did it in the second half and they got away with it. That is what annoyed me.

"We had issues with the referee when he wasn't saying hands off. We are used to hearing this. That is the difference between the two hemispheres.

"Nonetheless, it is not the reason for the result tonight."

Meanwhile, Argentina captain Agustin Pichot warned it would be the "end for rugby" if tournament organisers go ahead with plans to cut the World Cup to a 16-team event.

The Pumas can hold their heads high after a marvellous run of results that could help secure them a place in the southern hemisphere's Tri-Nations tournament over the next few years.

They will serve as an inspiration to other up-and-coming teams, such as the Pacific Island countries, for future World Cups, but the IRB has not ruled out cutting the number of entrants from 20 to 16.

Pichot insists that would be the wrong way to go, saying: "Rugby has to make some tough decisions now, whether to go for a more romantic and more non-profitable path.

"If the World Cup is cut from 20 to 16, I think that will be the end of rugby.

"We need to give all the countries a chance to play on this stage, even if they are not ready to play.

"Two of the greatest teams in world rugby (New Zealand and Australia) have gone home at the quarter-final stage. They have a lot of power.

"We have to look where we want to go. Open rugby, or six-to-10 team rugby."

Pichot was in tears as he praised the efforts of his team, who progressed through the group stages unbeaten and then beat Scotland before being undone by the four-try Springboks.

"We really believed we could achieve something, but something was missing," added the veteran Stade Français scrum-half.

"I won't have another chance to be a world champion, and that really hurts more than anything else.

"We have been waiting for so long, so it's a really sad day. We did everything, but it was beyond our reach.

"We made the semi-finals and we wanted to be world champions but it wasn't possible."