Ireland v Argentina
Quinlan out to make Pumas pay
PA Sport
November 17, 2008
Alan Quinlan of Ireland kicks the ball away from Jimmy Cowan of New Zealand during the Guinness Series match between Ireland and the New Zealand All Blacks at Croke Park in Dublin, Ireland on November 15, 2008.
Quinlan vies for a loose ball with New Zealand's Jimmy Cowan during the Croke Park clash © Getty Images
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Alan Quinlan has urged Ireland to prove their 22-3 defeat by New Zealand was just an aberration by taking their frustration out on Argentina.

Pre-match confidence about a first victory over the All Blacks in 103 years being there for the taking were proved to be misplaced in a one-sided clash at Croke Park. The All Blacks hardly broke sweat in romping to a three-try victory and Quinlan believes Ireland failed to do themselves justice.

"There's always pressure when you lose a game as you don't want to lose two games in a row," said the Munster back row. "There are World Cup ranking points on offer and I think we're a better team than what we showed against New Zealand. Hopefully we can prove that this weekend. We'll have to look at the video, analyse it, see where we went wrong and try to prepare correctly.

"We need to bounce back. Argentina are a very strong side and have been one of our rivals over the years. Hopefully we can bounce back from the All Blacks defeat. If we'd lost and played well, had a really good go, held onto the ball well and stretched them, then we wouldn't be so disappointed.

"We're frustrated we didn't play well and string a few phases together and hurt them."

Ireland made some fine breaks - David Wallace, Tommy Bowe and Luke Fitzgerald carried strongly - but they never seriously threatened the tourists' line. "Everyone is very disappointed. Coming into the game we were confident we could put them under a bit of pressure," said Quinlan. "New Zealand had done their homework on us and they put a lot of pressure on us and that paid off for them.

"We had a chance to make a bit of history but it just didn't happen. But I suppose we'll have to live with that. Certainly I think we're a better team than we showed but we made too many mistakes, too many errors."

Ireland name their team to face Argentina, their nemesis at the World Cup, at lunchtime tomorrow.

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