Defining moment in the life of Brian

World Cup / Tony Calvin / 30 September 2007 / Leave a Comment

Betfair's rugby expert Tony Calvin tells us why Ireland have it all to do if they are to avoid a flight home tomorrow morning

WILL the real Ireland finally turn up at the World Cup today?

That is the question punters must answer as they look at match odds of 2.4 on Betfair to beat Argentina, and around the even money mark on the +3.5 handicap.

Will the Ireland side that beat England 43-13 at Croke Park in February, and Australia 21-6 at Lansdowne Road in November, resurface and miraculously book their place in the quarter-finals?

Because they will need to if they are to, as they have to beat the Pumas by eight points or more and score four tries in the process. And all that for a quarter final against New Zealand.

Not the most likely of scenarios given the facts of this tournament.

Ireland have looked woeful and totally lacking in confidence and conviction, and they really should be out of the World Cup already after being outplayed in a 14-10 scrambling defeat of Georgia.

And now they are asked to defeat an Argentina side that have beaten the hosts on the opening night, and not shipped a try in this tournament so far.

You have to think that Argentina will dominate up front (though I would have liked to see Omar Hasan start at prop to attack the suspect Ireland front row) and the fact is that they have won two of their last four matches against Ireland, losing the other games just 21-19 and 16-15. And Ireland had home advantage in those narrow wins.

Ireland do have hope. The belated return of Geordan Murphy may bring with him a cutting edge so sorely lacking so far, and Juan Martin Hernandez does not convince me as a fly-half.

But the evidence of results between these sides, and performances in this tournament, point to Argentina being a huge price at 1.77 in the match odds market.