O'Gara puts boot into Pumas

Ireland secured a crucial 17-3 win over Argentina as Ronan O'Gara's boot settled a bad-tempered contest at Croke Park.

The fly-half slotted over three penalties and a drop goal before setting up the only try of the afternoon, scored by Tommy Bowe, with a kick to the corner.

While a victory against the team that knocked them out of the 2007 World Cup was some sort of revenge, the result was far more important in terms of the next edition of the tournament, in 2011.

As a result of their success Ireland remain in the top eight of the rankings, meaning they will be amongst the second seeds when the pool stages are drawn at the start of December.

Pressure

With so much riding on the outcome it was no surprise that the hosts failed to fire - particularly against a rugged Pumas pack.

Declan Kidney's troops could not be faulted for effort but lacked much in the way of invention in attack, forcing them to rely on O'Gara's kicking.

The Munster man had called in the build-up for the men in green to show more passion, something he demonstrated by getting involved in an altercation.

It was his needless shove on Rodrigo Roncero which allowed Santiago Fernandez, only drafted into the team shortly before the start after the influential Juan Martin Hernandez was injured whilst warming-up, to kick the visitors in front after a scoreless opening half hour.

O'Gara levelled matters after Mario Ledesma had been caught offside, meaning a feisty first 40 minutes ended all square at three apiece.

The second half barely saw an improvement in the standard of rugby, while both sets of players continued to chip away at each other before referee Bryce Lawrence was finally forced to reach for his pocket.

Collision

Ireland's inability with ball in hand was summed up when skipper Brian O'Driscoll ran into a team-mate trying to run a set move.

They did, though, manage to take control thanks to their pack of forwards and after Fernandez failed with a penalty attempt, O'Gara booted the home team ahead for the first time in the 50th minute.

A drop goal and third penalty followed to make it 12-3 before finally a try came, O'Gara's crossfield kick bouncing kindly for Bowe to collect and finish.

Fittingly for a scrappy match that always threatened to boil over, the final moment of drama came without the ball, Roncero being sin-binned for back chatting an official to cut short his long-running feud with O'Gara.