Ireland gained an important psychological advantage over Argentina on Saturday thanks to their forwards superiority at the set-pieces.
The only comfort the Argentians can take is that the conditions when the sides next meet, at the World Cup in Adelaide in October 2003, are likely to be markedly different from the driving rain in which this match was played.
Ireland were desperate to avoid a hat-trick of defeats by the Pumas, the first of which came in the 1999 World Cup, and meant that the Irish were forced into taking the scenic route to the next tournament.
"Hopefully we'll have put some sort of doubt into their minds for when we play them next year," said Ireland's captain Brian O'Driscoll. "Having said that, we're just pleased to have gone out and performed, played some sensible rugby and showed that bit more grit. The most pleasing thing was that we were able to play in the conditions and I think that we stuck to our guns well."
Their set-piece play against Australia two weeks ago had been good but on Saturday it was remarkable. They lost only one of 26 lineouts and stole five from the Pumas. And the scrum was excellent. When you can manage to negate the Pumas in this area you know you are doing something right.
The Argentinian scrum-half Agustin Pichot saw things differently, however. "The referee had no sympathy for us or the conditions," he said. "For some decisions we just couldn't understand what he was penalising us for. We have a strong scrum and had the better of Ireland, but we were still being penalised."
Certainly he had the look of a man about to explode. When at one point the referee Chris White called him back to the mark to retake a penalty, after he was clean through, he looked as if he was in the mood to throttle the official.
In truth they were unable to cope with Ireland's rampant maul or to pin down the opposition deep in their own territory. And for that Ireland can thank the outstanding defensive performance of Girvan Dempsey.
The Leinster full-back is unlikely to be bracketed with the likes of Christian Cullen when it comes to nifty counter- attacking but his fielding and positional play were of a high order. Moreover he produced a neat package of skills to provide Ireland with their only try.
Ireland's win was their sixth in succession, their best effort since 1968-69, which explains a great deal about their struggle with consistency of late. By the time the Six Nations rolls around they will have retrieved most of the bodies from the treatment room. And on a dry sod the Irish might even discover that they can run as well as they can slide.
Ireland: Dempsey ; Horgan , O'Driscoll (capt, all Leinster), Maggs (Bath), Bishop (London Irish); O'Gara , Stringer (both Munster); Corrigan (Leinster; Horan 77, Munster), Byrne (Leinster), Hayes (Munster), Longwell (Ulster; Cullen 29), O'Kelly , Costello (all Leinster; Quinlan 74), Foley (both Munster), Gleeson (Leinster).
Try: Dempsey. Con: O'Gara. Pens: O'Gara 3.
Argentina: Corletto; Camardon, Orengo, Arbizu (capt; Miranda, 70), Albanese; Contepomi, Pichot; Reggiardo, Ledesma, Hasan, Fernandez Lobbe, Alvarez (Sporleder, 64), Phelan (Durand, 78), Longo, Martin.
Try: Martin. Con: Contepomi.
Attendance: 40,000.
Referee: C White (England).
