IT SEEMED fitting in a French-based tournament that the guillotine should finally fall on Ireland’s World Cup aspirations in the Parc Des Princes, a venue that has wreaked so much pain and havoc on a succession of Irish teams throughout the 1970s, 80s and 90s.

IRELAND'S victory over South Africa and Argentina's win over France provides the perfect backdrop to Saturday's showdown at Lansdowne Road.

AUGUSTIN PICHOT, the Argentine captain and scrum-half, made no attempt to conceal his abject disappointment.