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 Irish eyes are crying Argentina converts late try to shock, eliminate Ireland 28-24
Posted: Thursday October 21, 1999 12:30 AM
LENS, France (CNN/SI) -- In one of the surprise results of the tournament, Ireland's luck finally gave out when Argentine's winger Diego Albanese darted over the line five minutes from time to score the only try of the match and set up a 28-24 victory. With all the experts expecting a quarterfinal between Ireland and France, the Pumas advance into their first ever World Cup quarterfinal mainly off the golden boot of Gonzalo Quesada. Albanese finished off a stunning backline move for the only try of the match on 75 minutes and Quesada converted from out near the sideline to set up Argentina's quarterfinal, against France on Sunday in Dublin. There were eight minutes of added time and Ireland threw everything at Argentina's line but failed to come up with the necessary try to stay in the tournament. Ireland's 24 points all came from the boot of flyhalf David Humphreys while Quesada kicked 23 points, including a penalty to give Argentina breathing space in the final minute of normal time. France played miserably throughout its group matches and needed some sympathetic refereeing decisions to edge Fiji in the decisive game which secured a quarterfinal place. The first half of Wednesday's match set the tone and was more a goalkicking clinic than a rugby match as Humphreys booted five penalties to three from Quesada for Ireland's 15-9 lead at the break. Australian referee Stu Dickinson kept blowing his whistle and the two flyhalfs came forward to test out their accuracy. Humphreys got the first two penalties inside seven minutes and then added a third after Quesada's opening goal on nine minutes. Two more from Quesada got Argentina back to level at 9-9 on 25 minutes but Humphreys landed two of his own within six minutes to restore the six-point lead. The monotony of perfect kicking was broken right on the break when Quesada, nicknamed "Speedy Gonzalo" because of his ponderous approach to his art, pushed his fourth shot wide of the posts. There was little open play to savor in the first term. Ireland tried several times to exploit Argentina's backline out wide, but the one occasion the South Americans were on the ropes the Irish opted for a penalty shot instead of a scrum near the tryline. Argentina showed some talent with the ball in hand, but their best break, worked by flanker Rolando Martin and carried on by fullback Ignacio Corletto also led to a penalty goal instead of something more substantial. The halftime break didn't improve the tempo of the match and Humphreys knocked over a sixth penalty three minutes after the resumption. He followed up with superbly taken drop goal for a 21-9 which seemed to give Ireland the required breathing space, but then Quesada kicked two more to cut the margin to six points. Again Humphreys and Quesada traded penalties for 24-18 with 15 minutes to play before Argentina started to run the ball. The decisive break was sparked by captain Lisandro Arbizu and hooker Mario Ledesma carried it up before a chip in behind the Irish line resulted in a scrum. Argentina cleared the ball quickly with three sharp passes setting up Albanese for his decisive sprint to the line.
IrelandConor O'Shea, Justin Bishop, Brian O'Driscoll, Kevin Maggs, Matt Mostyn, David Humphreys, Tom Tierney, Dion O'Cuinneagain, Kieron Dawson, Andy Ward, Malcolm O'Kelly, Jeremy Davidson, Paul Wallace, Keith Wood, Reggie Corrigan.
ArgentinaIgnacio Corletto, Gonzalo Camardon, Eduardo Simone, Lisandro Arbizu, Diego Albanese, Gonzalo Queseda, Agustin Pichot, Gonzalo Longo, Rolando Martin, Santiago Phelan, Alejandro Allub, Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, Omar Hasan, Mario Ledesma, Mauricio Reggiardo.Referee: Stu Dickinson, Australia.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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