RWC 2015: Argentinians in Ireland celebrate emphatic win

There was one bar in Dublin on Sunday not stunned into silence by Argentina's whirlwind start to their match against Ireland.

The Trinity Bar in Dame Street was packed well before the 1pm start of the Rugby World Cup quarter-final.

The bar is home to Ireland’s small, but, on this occasion, very colourful Argentinian community, in their familiar blue and white stripes.

They began the match quietly confident of victory - and ended up almost embarrassed by the emphatic nature of the scoreline.

Many punters were only shuffling into the bar when Argentina scored after just two minutes and 30 seconds. Juan Imhoff added another try after nine minutes, and then Nicholas Sanchez landed a penalty. It was 17-0 after as many minutes.

The Argentinians jumped up and down as if they could not believe the score. Neither could anyone else.

One referred to Ross O’Carroll-Kelly, who had just tweeted that if you watched the match on TV3+1 it would still be 0-0.

Sense of resignation

The Irish took over for most of the rest of the first half, and the start of the second. A sense of resignation was replaced by a sense of hope. Ian Madigan’s penalty miss at 20-23 though was the critical moment of the match.

Ireland failed to score again for the rest of the game - Argentina ran amok. Many Irish fans drifted away from the bar long before the end, forlorn and disappointed, leaving the Argentinians to celebrate.

Leo Dominella, who is on a European holiday with friends, had sought out the company of other Argentinians to watch the game.

The Argentinian rugby team are becoming big stars in their soccer-mad country because of the élan they have shown in the Rugby World Cup to date, he says.

“People love these players because they put all their heart into the game, which means a lot to us. The game is growing all the time in Argentina,” he says.

“I though it would be a tough game. The second part of the first half was difficult to watch for us.”

His friend Ignacio Martin chipped in: "Ireland is a good team, but the bravery of the players made the difference."

Diego’s promise

Johnny Murray, who despite his name, is Argentinian, was busy sending a photograph of Diego Maradona to an Irish friend after the match as a joke.

Maradona, Argentina's greatest sporting hero (though Lionel Messi must surely run him close), has promised to turn up for the Rugby World Cup semi-final if Argentina happened to get there. He will be expected to keep his word.

“I didn’t expect Argentina to win,” Johnny said, “but there is a lot of young players on the team who put in a great performance.”

Sebastian Jezzi from Buenos Aires said rugby was mostly the preserve of the middle-classes in Argentina, but this is changing, as the profile of rugby in the country has increased hugely because of its inclusion in the southern hemisphere Rugby Championship.

“We are gaining in exposure. I love the sport because it is very noble. There is lots of shaking hands and lots of respect.

"I thought it would be a tough match, but I was confident of victory because of the way we played against New Zealand and because of the injuries in the Irish team."