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Ibañez talks up Ireland

Ibañez: 'We remained the master of our nerves'

France captain Raphaël Ibañez believes pure "honour and pride" could yet propel beleaguered Ireland to the World Cup quarter-finals.

The Irish's hopes of making the knockout stages took a hammer blow on Friday night when they were soundly beaten 25-3 by France in Paris.

Eddie O'Sullivan's side will head into next Sunday's clash with Argentina in third place in Pool D, needing a bonus-point win over the Pumas to stand any chance of making the top two.

It is a tall order considering both Argentina's current form and Ireland's abject campaign thus far, which has seen them struggle past minnows Namibia and Georgia before imploding against the French.

But Ibañez, who has been involved in some mighty scraps with the Irish in recent times, believes there is still hope.

"I don't think they are better or worse than they were in the Six Nations," said the Wasps hooker.

"I hope they can beat Argentina. They won't have a choice, it will be a matter of honour and pride.

"It is going to be a huge clash between two teams with a lot of passion.

"Ireland still have world-class players in their team. They have had their problems, but we have had ours and we have come through."

Indeed France's campaign is back up and running following their calamitous defeat to the Argentinians in the tournament opener a fortnight ago.

Their 87-10 defeat of Namibia slightly healed the scars, and they would have been completely covered over following a solid all-round performance against the Irish.

It was not especially pretty, with awesome defence and attacking opportunism when it really mattered proving too much for O'Sullivan's men.

The hosts relied on penalties from the excellent Jean-Baptiste Elissalde to build a 15-3 lead heading into the final 25 minutes, but then the mercurial Frédéric Michalak came to the party.

The future Sharks (SA) fly-half had been at his frustrating, enigmatic best up until the point he sent a Carlos Spencer-style banana kick with the outside of his right foot to the opposite wing he was facing.

Winger Vincent Clerc pounced, running into acres of space on the right flank to collect and ground.

The match was over and the Toulouse flyer touched down 11 minutes later to add gloss to the scoreline and make him the tournament's leading try-scorer with five.

Ibañez was delighted with the way his men coped with the pressurised situation in the same stadium they flopped two weeks previously.

"Since the opening game, we know there would be no second chance," he added.

"We know how good they [Ireland] are and they are a team that always give us problems.

"It was a real arm-wrestle but we managed to wear them down and what was enjoyable was the way we remained the master of our nerves at crucial moments.

"There was a lot of intensive contact but we didn't make too many mistakes, so we got the upper hand mentally and physically."

France now know a bonus-point win against Georgia next Sunday will guarantee them a place in the last eight.

It is expected they will finish second in the pool and therefore face New Zealand in a quarter-final in Cardiff on October 6.

An Ireland win over Argentina could possibly allow the hosts to end up top of the group and set up a clash with either Scotland or Italy at the Stade de France. That is unlikely, however.

"We are going to prepare for Georgia like we did against Ireland and Namibia," said head coach Bernard Laporte.

"We have three days to recover and then get down to work. It is an important game for us."

The in-form Clerc added: "We knew we were better than what we showed in the first match. We had faith in ourselves.

"We feel stronger and want to show it. We know where we want to go."