Argentina sound a warning for the World Cup

IRELAND’S World Cup opponents Argentina have proved they can compete with the best in the world after their displays against France and South Africa this month, coach Marcel Loffreda said at the weekend.

Argentina, who beat France 2-0 at home, were denied an historic first win over South Africa on Saturday after scoring three tries to two and leading 25-16 with three minutes remaining.

They were denied victory by a converted try and a last gasp penalty by flyhalf Louis Koen which allowed the Springboks to squeak home 26-25.

“After the series of games that we have just had we have shown that we are able to compete with the best in the world,” Loffreda said .

“We are disappointed to have lost and I think we were definitely the better side.” Argentina had a fourth try denied and also overcame the handicap of losing lock Rimas Alvarez to the sin bin in the first half.

“These tests have showed that we have definitely improved but we still have to improve before October (and the World Cup),” Loffreda said.

“But we showed very solid defence and the Springboks looked quite rattled and we scored three tries.”

Springbok coach Rudolf Straeuli said his side had “gone to sleep” after taking a 10-0 lead in the first quarter of the match.

“We played very well to that point,” he said. “We were playing to the game plan but after that we made a lot of mistakes and you can’t afford that against a team like that.

“There’s a lot of passion in this team or else they would not have come back to win the game.

“We are all disappointed with the performance but there’s a good team spirit but we know in the next two weeks we have a lot of hard work to do.

“It gives us a clear view of what players are able to do and what they are not able to do and what we want to do as we go into the Tri-nations.”

South Africa play Australia in the opening Tri-nations fixture of the season in Cape Town on July 12.