IRELAND 17 ARGENTINA 3:IN THE lengthy list of classic duels between these two increasingly bitter rivals over the last decade, this was right down there.
Any chance the IRB could put a moratorium on the two countries meeting for the next few years, World Cup included, in the interests of the players' safety, supporters' sanity and perhaps even the banking crisis and global warming?
This was utterly predictable, and once Juan Martin Hernandez failed a fitness test on his groin in the warm-up, numbingly so. There's arguably never a good time to play the Pumas but if there is, then this was the day.
Already shorn of Felipe Contepomi, to lose their sole remaining source of points, invention and tactical variation was a cruel blow.
They still have a wonderful bunch of grizzled and gnarled forwards, while their scrumhalf Nicolas Vergallo - who didn't even make their World Cup squad - has clearly benefited from turning professional with Dax. His nimble footwork continually extricated him from traffic and trouble and his service was snappy.
But only Horacio Agulla survived in the back line from the team that dissected Ireland at last year's World Cup and as you watched their first lineout maul after five minutes being hauled down, and then Rodrigo Roncero being pinged for "sealing" from the ensuing pick-and-go round the fringes, it quickly became evident that the only way they could trouble the scoreboard was through three pointers.
The ELVs and the diktat on players staying on their feet have further dulled the Pumas' claws.
So on the half hour, when the late replacement for Hernandez, 22-year-old debutant Santiago Fernandez, stepped up to address his first penalty and steered it wide, you knew immediately that they were only likely to score three or six points if they'd been there until midnight barring a try off an intercept or blockdown.
In the event, Ronan O'Gara's alertness prevented Martin Durand scoring from his chargedown of Tomás O'Leary's box kick.
That it took Ireland so long to painstakingly wear down the Pumas can be attributed to a number of factors, a lack of confidence and the high stakes being uppermost among them.
It wasn't as if the pack didn't front up. David Wallace's dynamic ball-carrying and tackling has made him Ireland's stand-out player of the month, and here Stephen Ferris wasn't far behind.
The scrums went particularly well and John Hayes had another mighty 80 minutes. Rory Best did very well when brought into the fray early on - his tackling was as excellent as ever - and Donncha O'Callaghan's obvious dislike of the Pumas saw him step up to Paul O'Connell's plate. Competitive in the air and using variations on their own ball, they also nicked six of the Pumas' throws, while losing only two of their own.
They didn't always clear out as quickly as they might have done and O'Leary spent much of the day excavating, but his service was too slow and outside him the backs shovelled slow ball, ran too laterally, made scant use of the blindside wingers, decoys, cutback runners, width or Geordan Murphy's ability to hit the line.
Ireland's offloading and support game has scarcely evolved over three games, and they seem to regard "trailers" as something attached to lorries.
Save for a couple of barnstorming gallops by the flankers, the only line-breaks were by Tommy Bowe. The first of these, in broken play on a switch with Marcus Horan, should have yielded a try, but Brian O'Driscoll couldn't make up the ground on the left touchline and though Wallace was in support, Rob Kearney could have run a better trailer. Poor execution and a pity, for it might have released them from their shackles.
Bowe, always hungry for work, eventually delivered Ireland's only try in 160 minutes. Not for nothing was he voted the players' player of the year last season, but sure what would the players know?
He was caught out under the high ball, but he wasn't alone as the capricious wind made fielding high balls hazardous in the extreme, though the classy Murphy made it look relatively routine.
The kick-and-chase game was poor once more, and again faced with a deep bank of three, nor did O'Gara and co ever look to exploit the space in between. Having honestly aired his views during the week, O'Gara undoubtedly raised the bar for himself but - coupled with the barrage of sledging coming his way in English and Spanish - it contrived to leave him far too wound up for his own good.
In his own willingness to put his body on the line, O'Gara was hitting rucks when he would have been better off filling the outhalf channel. As well as ploughing into the back of Rodrigo Roncero he was regularly ticked off by Bryce Lawrence.
To his credit, O'Gara delivered in the second period, using the wind to ensure a territorial foothold for almost all of the last half-hour, and he gradually steered Ireland towards the winning line with a brace of penalties either side of a superbly-struck 45 metre drop goal.
Only when O'Gara made it 12-3 in the 75th minute could the Irish team heave a collective breath and let some of the tension out of their game. Here again they were helped by a rather fortunate line-break through the middle by Bowe after colliding into Luke Fitzgerald. The Argentinians were understandably furious about the ensuing penalty against them, Mario Ledesma sarcastically applauded the referee and Patricio Albacete threw the ball away in disgust.
As the Pumas finished the game in a collective red mist, by the end a clear-headed O'Gara also had the vision to measure a wedged cross-kick with back spin on the run for Bowe's late try. In terms of pure skill, probably the high point of the day, and almost out of place.
