Ireland v Argentina Media reaction:The reaction to Ireland's departure from the 2007 Rugby World Cup is perhaps best encapsulated by one of Argentina's secondrows, Patricio Albacete. When asked how it felt to beat the Irish, he responded: "Ireland represents nothing to me. If they are out of the World Cup I don't care. I'm just happy that we won the four matches and we are still in the World Cup."

Albacete's words mirror the French media's reaction. The overwhelming editorial response is that Ireland brought nothing to this tournament from a rugby perspective so why mourn their departure. The Irish flattered to deceive, couldn't substantiate their pre-World Cup hype where it mattered, on the pitch.

Argentina command most of the headlines in L'Équipe, an understandable focus, given that they travel on to the play-offs, and also a reflection of their victory in Parc des Princes on Sunday. One such ascribes their victory to, literally, 'the head and the guts'. Ireland, in a sidebar to the match report, are dismissed under the heading, "No miracle", before a strapline points out that having arrived at the tournament with lofty ambitions, "the Irish leave the World Cup with heads bowed."

The assessment that follows is mercifully brief but points out, "for the second time in six World Cups, Ireland has failed to make the quarter-finals."

Line by line it debunks Irish assertions, going on to point out that "the best back line in the world dropped four balls, the kicking game was a shambles and the Argentinians managed to force 10 turnovers."

Perhaps the most damning line was one that signalled Ireland's disarray in the tournament: "The team (Ireland) couldn't give a reasonable explanation for their poor form."

This is a theme that's explored more in the newspaper Midi Olympique, whose headline centres on a simple question: "Who can stop the Pumas?"

Ireland's malaise - it seems an appropriate term - is discussed under the heading, "The sickness runs deep."

The author, Serge Magnificat, probes several sources - a vox pop takes in former players, Irish journalists and supporters - to find an explanation as to why the Irish underperformed so dramatically.

It is among the supporters that opinions are least diluted, one Irish fan, summing up last Sunday and by extension the World Cup thus: "It was humiliating. We were given a rugby lesson and the future of Irish rugby has been called into question."

The opinions are largely uniform, the prognosis gloomy and in the end many observations pose more questions than they answer.

Le Figaro prefers to focus on Argentina: "It is the birth of a nation. A simple joy like childhood. (They are) a team of warriors who use brains as well as passion."

The match report is a eulogy of sorts to a team who have overcome exclusion and prejudice to muscle their way to the forefront of the World Cup. It's been a compelling journey that shows no sign of abating.

The International Herald Tribune rugby writer Peter Berlin starts his summation of the match: "For the first five minutes in the Parc des Princes on Sunday, as their fans roared, Ireland stormed the Argentinian line. But it was passion without precision."

It neatly parcelled Ireland's last two games in the tournament.

Outhalf Juan Martín Hernández, in response to a question on whether Argentina smashed Ireland, shrugged: "We were better than them. We controlled them during the whole match; even if they scored two tries our strategy was perfect.

"They (Ireland) were desperate and didn't know what to do. They only passed to the captain (Brian O'Driscoll) to make something happen. We were very good in defence and mentally."

Their inspirational captain, Agustin Pichot, talking about who they would have liked to avoid in the quarter-finals, says: "If it was the Blacks, it was the All Blacks, if it was Scotland, it was Scotland - we don't have the luxury of coming into a World Cup and saying we'll do this and play this team. We just fight for what we have."