Ireland v Argentina: If any sweetness lingered longer than Ronan O'Gara's final kick of the game, it was difficult to shine a light on it.

That Ireland, in the end had gathered more scraps from an unfussy, rancorous battle, seemed as much a source of deep satisfaction as celebration. The team's dogged, hardball professionalism was counterpointed over the 80 minutes only by O'Gara's sublime boot.

There were two main points of debate, the six gouged faces being attended to in the home dressing-room and the antifreeze coursing through the Irish outhalf's veins. While Irish captain Brian O'Driscoll and coach Eddie O'Sullivan properly broke the rugby code of omerta and sang like canaries about the Argentina transgressions in the tight, the rest of the team were left with strict instructions not to throw more gasoline on the fire. Irish lock Paul O'Connell would have been closer to the alleged eye-gouging than most.

"I've nothing to say on that. That's our party line. It's down to the match commissioner. We're not going to solve it tonight by talking about it. We've nothing to say about it," he said.

But were you at the receiving end of any of the gouging? "No, no, no. Luckily enough," he said.

You were aware of it? "There was stuff the lads were talking about, stuff that happened," he said offering the word "stuff" as a useful euphemism.

But was it a dirty match to play in? "It was a tough game. I mean, there's stuff going on all the time. It's not up to us to discuss it now," he added shuffling in his chair but fiercely sticking to management instructions.

What stuff? "There was everything going on. Big hits in the rucks and it's always a tough, tight game against Argentina. Any dirty play that went on will be sorted out by the match commissioners," he repeated.

But they claimed that Ireland didn't play the game in the spirit of rugby? "They are very cynical in their half of the pitch," said O'Connell. "With a team of backs like Shane Horgan, Ronan O'Gara and Brian O'Driscoll, we want to get the ball and play rugby. They want to keep it tight and spoil and harry and maul. I've been on the receiving ends of beatings and come out with comments like that as well.

"We wanted to play rugby. We've some of the best backs in the world and we are not a cynical team. It is a strange comment to make."

Sour grapes then? "I don't know. It was a tight game and they were unlucky to lose it. It would have been a great win for them and they are seeing us doing very well at the moment. So I imagine they are disappointed. If that's his (Agustin Pichot) opinion then that's his opinion. He's a good guy and a great player. But it's a strange thing to say."

Girvan Dempsey could be more loose-tongued. Constantly changing positions between full back and the wing with Geordan Murphy and Denis Hickie, the Terenure College player was mercifully far from raking fingers.

"I didn't see any of it," said Dempsey. "I was busy switching between full back and wing. I heard Brian (O'Driscoll) alright saying during the match to watch out for it (gouging). I didn't know it was so bad until I came into the changing room after the game and heard from the other guys." "Yeh it was a tough game physically. But we expected that," he added. "They caught us a bit cold and we were making the mistakes we watched France make on the video analysis during the week, like silly turnovers and we also let them in for a soft try. But we came back well and Ronan was outstanding. That drop goal at the end!"

You were aware that he was going to do that? "Yes. It was a pre-call from the lineout that we were going to do it. We were actually going to go another couple of phases to try and get it further down, get forward runners closer to the posts. But as it came, the ball arrived straight back for him and he struck it beautifully."

O'Gara, the trigger man at boiling point on the pitch, insouciance personified off it, didn't appreciate the shape the game had taken in the early stages or the work load required to rectify it. Nor did he offer any reasons for his kicking to be so consistently high-class.

"Yeh, at 10-0, it was looking like a long day," he said. "Wednesday is a day off for everyone else. We come (O'Gara and David Humphreys) in here and kick for hours. It's great when you put effort into it and get days like that out of it. I thought we would have needed a try to win it but as it happened we didn't. Strings (Peter Stringer) set me on my right leg, a great pass. You just kinda trust your technique from there."

Everyone but O'Gara seemed to expect the Irish pack to surge closer to the Argentinian 22 before he fell into the pocket. Well, nearly everyone. "Yeh, but closer and wide is no good is it?" said O'Gara. Leave the job to the master.