Pool D:Argentina's win is a great result for Ireland and a terrible result for the All Blacks because New Zealand will now be thinking they might have to play France in the quarter final. It now gives Ireland a chance to win their pool because even if Ireland lose to France but beat Argentina they could still be in with a chance of being on top on points difference.

In a sense that's why tomorrow's first game is important because Ireland will want to score points and at the end of the day that is probably going to be very important.

Argentina just totally frustrated France. They put it up in the air quite a lot and the French couldn't really handle the Garryowens. However, when Ireland come to meet France I don't think the French will play as naively again. Argentina were able to rattle them and bring a lot more commitment and passion into the match. You really do have to admire the Argentinians for the way they were able to do that. They didn't play any rugby and in the end they didn't need to. They continued to live off the French mistakes, did everything they could. I think they even had five or six drop goal attempts.

It is a huge upset but maybe it is good result for the competition and makes the outcome of the matches less predictable. But I can't see France playing that poorly again. If they were asked to play that match again tomorrow, they would be much smarter and win the game.

But even from the beginning the emotion in the Argentina side struck me when they were playing the national anthems and from the start they really came at the French. In the first half Argentina didn't really create very much, but they didn't need to. Everything was coming off the French errors. The intercept try that fullback Corletto scored could just have easily have been a try in the other end for France.

The French had a better scrum, a better lineout but they were trying to take Argentina on around the fringes and Argentina were strong in that area.

What they were doing to the French was upsetting their rhythm. They were stopping the flow of the game, not allowing France to get any real extended sequence of play and they were quite happy to give away a penalty or two to do that. Every little while a player would go down and that broke up the game.

In the second half France played better but they didn't really dominate territory and little was happening for them when they were in the Argentina half. All the while Argentina just never let up. They were putting in selfless tackles all the time, rushing up quickly and getting in the French faces and cutting down their space and time.

When you play against France that is exactly what you need to do. They like space and time to unload the ball and Argentina didn't let them have it.

From Ireland's point of view, I now think the strong selection and the inclusion of all the front line players for the first match against Namibia is the right thing to do. At the start of a World Cup you really want to get off to a good start. You can be sure they have been disappointed with their lead into the competition but this is now a chance to get their combinations right and to build confidence for the match against France, which they really want to target.

This is the right game to put out a strong team. Maybe next match against Georgia risk a few players but target France and try to win the group. Winning the group would mean missing the All Blacks in the quarter-final. I know that Ireland's recent record against the French is not the best but if the team can get confidence from the first two matches, they can put themselves into a position to really, really tackle France.

The side is good enough to win the group. Sure, it was disappointing against Scotland and it was a lucky win against Italy with the controversial try but given the experience of this team and the number of caps they have throughout the squad, they are good enough to beat the other sides in the pool.

The Munster players in the pack, who have had the experience of winning the European Cup, will be very important. That could be quite a key. Because of that success they won't fear the fact that it is France. In fact in many ways the poor run-in may take the pressure off somewhat. They might just slip in under the radar. Sometimes that's actually a very nice way to begin.