Vincent Hogan: Local troops take control of cold war
Old enemies maintain respect but Kidney's men have all the firepower
Mario Ledesma looked like just another eccentric, elderly relative, mumbling banal courtesies as he hurried from the cold, a heavy, beige rug pulled across his shoulders.
At the mouth of the tunnel, Felipe Contepomi wrapped a brotherly arm around Jonny Sexton. In the world's biggest freezer unit, the rogue hormone of friendship was slowly breaking out.
So much of what these teams understand about one another has generated only boiling antipathy. Somehow, the last decade pushed them ceaselessly into one another's faces and, routinely, they found themselves doing things and saying things that pretty much brought dialogue back to the cave.
But they left a cankerous past behind them here. Maybe it was just a pragmatic concession to the freezing temperature, only the hardiest souls leaving their igloos to watch the last of the autumn Tests.
But the Ireland-Argentina story certainly seemed to reach a point of resolution here. Still, Jamie Heaslip chuckled at any media depiction of some kind of armistice called.
"It still hurt when you got tackled," he said, keen to keep the concept of conviviality in perspective. "It doesn't really make a difference if there are no rows. Believe me, the collisions were still up there. I don't know if it's the media hypes this rivalry up a bit. But it was certainly pretty physical."
In that, you know what you get with Argentina. After a minute's silence was observed for five members of a rugby club killed last week in a car crash at home, the Argentine players bellowed out their national anthem like soldiers going to the front.
And the preliminaries over, they weren't slow to declare their immediate intentions. This would be slow-lane, tape-measure business. They mauled their way ferociously into the Irish 22, then set up base camp on the line. Between the fifth and 10th minutes, Mr Lawrence called six scrums, five with the visitors putting in.
Not once did Argentina entertain the idea of going wide. Why would they?
This was a letter of intent, a vow to smash the Irish scrum. But it never happened. On the sixth re-set, Ireland made the feed, Heaslip was smothered by a Puma before the ball was free and -- to gasps of incredulity -- the stained-glass window held.
Declan Kidney would describe that moment as pivotal to Ireland's psychological well-being. For they had challenged the cliche of their weakness.
Within 15 minutes, they led 10-0 and -- somehow -- Argentina looked discommoded that all the gossip about Ireland's front-row had, maybe, left them a mite complacent. Unable to bully Ireland's set-piece, they would have to consider the alternative of playing rugby.
And, just now, that's not exactly Argentina's favourite option.
So they resorted to stereotype, loose-head Rodrigo Roncero gifting Jonny Sexton a succession of penalty opportunities with his recidivism at the breakdown. Sexton didn't need the invitation in writing.
As Tommy Bowe put it: "There were no great rows, but I think we were quite clever. We managed to win a lot of penalties and kept the scoreboard ticking over. Then they missed a few kicks too, so they didn't have the opportunity to give themselves something to shout about.
"So while we were building our win, I think it was very difficult for them to get too niggly."
Just after Gordon D'Arcy made a startling 12th-minute break, cutting inside second-row Patricio Albacete like a traffic pylon, Andrew Trimble ran a wonderful line onto a quick, midfield exchange between Bowe and Geordan Murphy. Ireland had begun to express themselves with pace and imagination.
On 20 minutes, they ran a lovely move through five sets of fingers that culminated with the now de rigueur spectacle of two back-rowers torqueing through the wide channels. In this instance, Heaslip and Stephen Ferris came bombing down Bowe's outside and, in his giddiness, Ferris touched down earlier than he needed to.
No matter, Sexton nailed the conversion from an awkward angle and the Pumas' heads were spinning.
Sean Cronin then attempted an imitation of 'Ginger' McLoughlin at Twickenham in '82, carrying half the Argentine pack towards their own line before weight of numbers finally forced him down. Soon after, Heaslip ran over Roncero and Nicolas Vergallo as if they were paving stones.
The physicality ran so high that the normally peacable D'Arcy even squared up to Argentine tight-head Martin Scelzo. The two of them touched noses, evidently warming to the Eskimo landscape.
Still, it never degenerated into open warfare. It never felt lawless.
By the mid-point, Argentina trailed 19-3, their captain Contepomi having an animated exchange with Mr Lawrence as they walked off.
You didn't have to hear the conversation to know he was making a shoestring argument. Argentina had been woeful.
And therein resides maybe the one seed of Irish disappointment. For until D'Arcy's beautiful 81st-minute dink kick over Rodriguez for the second try, the impoverished Pumas pretty much stayed afloat. Contepomi and wings Horacio Agulla and Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino all made bursts for freedom when, with a little more control, Ireland ought really have been out the gate and gone.
D'Arcy's try, then, brought a gust of relief that should never have been needed.
As Bowe reflected: "Justice was done, so it was very good to get the try in the end. To have our best winning margin against them was very nice, especially at the end of the year. We're very happy with a 20-point winning margin.
"This has been as gruelling a four weeks as I've ever been a part of. But that's what we're going to need to get used to. I know, with our clubs, we play four weeks in a row, but international level is obviously a massive step up.
"We've had four very tough, very physical matches and I think, as the games went on, our performances kept going up a level. We upped our game for the All Blacks, but let in a couple of soft tries. They kind of walked it in the end, which was very disappointing.
"But this (Argentina) was a huge potential banana skin. We've struggled with the Argies the last couple of years, so to get that kind of win left the series on a bit of a high note."
Even on a refrigerated November Sunday, that much we could see.
- Vincent Hogan
Irish Independent
