IRELAND v ARGENTINA THE LAST NINE CLASHES:Ireland and Argentina have clashed on nine occasions in the last nine years, including three times in the four most recent World Cups. They meet once again at Croke Park today with Argentina leading 5-4 - it's 5-5 including the match in 1990 - in the head-to-head battles. The Pumas have won the last three encounters, Ireland's last success was at Lansdowne Road in 2004. John O'Sullivanspoke to nine Irish players who provide a personal insight into those matches

Sunday, September 30th, 2007, Parc des Princes

Argentina 30, Ireland 15

IT marked the conclusion of Ireland's participation in what was a dreadfully disappointing World Cup. The Irish played marginally better than they had done in previous matches but it still didn't suffice against a Pumas team who sat back and waited to counter-attack when not taking the aerial route to victory.

Gordon D'Arcy:"It was a slightly weird experience from the start because it wasn't simply about beating Argentina. We had to get a bonus point against the form team of the tournament at that point. This was set against a backdrop of close matches down the years between the two countries.

"It was only the second time I had played against Felipe (Contepomi) and I knew it would be a tough battle, not physically but just because of his ball skills. We noted beforehand a weakness in their backline defence and exploited it for Brian's (O'Driscoll) try. Briefly we looked like we had a chance but that was snuffed out.

"Some of the Argentine players definitely push the boundaries of sportsmanship to their limits on the pitch. They are ultra physical and niggly, not always staying within the laws. If the referee allows it though, they'll persist. They're always in your face and try to distract you from simply playing rugby. They're also very good players, which sometimes gets overlooked."

IRELAND:G Murphy; S Horgan, B O'Driscoll, G D'Arcy, D Hickie; R O'Gara, E Reddan; M Horan, J Flannery, J Hayes; D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell; S Easterby, D Wallace, D Leamy.

Saturday, June 2nd, 2007,  Velez Sarsfield

Argentina 16, Ireland 0

A FRUSTRATING climax to the season from an Irish perspective. This was a low-grade encounter with Ireland making wholesale changes from the first Test. It undermined any hope of the team settling and gelling and ultimately a handicap from which the Irish failed to recover against a second-string Puma side.

Leo Cullen:"For some of the players this match marked the end of a long season. A few of us had just played the Heineken Cup final and arrived on the Wednesday of the first Test. I suppose the tour was undertaken to give players a chance to stake a claim for the World Cup.

"We gave away some silly penalties during the match, basically playing our way out of it. It was kind of a disjointed effort in that some guys had played a match within the past 10 days while others hadn't played for a while. They got a try at the end of a match we simply couldn't get a foothold in and as a result never looked like winning.

"Argentina are so good at the breakdown, backs and forwards. They get in on top of the ball and if you don't get them out it can be a long day and that's what we experienced. They are comfortable with playing the game tight and most of their tries come from turnovers."

IRELAND:G Murphy; B Carney, B Murphy, G Duffy, R Kearney; J Staunton, E Reddan; B Young, F Sheahan, S Best; L Cullen, M O'Driscoll; A Quinlan, S Jennings, S Ferris.

Saturday, May 26th, 2007, Club Atletico Colon

Argentina 22, Ireland 20

LEINSTER'S Felipe Contepomi broke Irish hearts as his last-gasp drop goal claimed victory. Ireland managed a couple of tries, one from Brian Carney and the other a penalty try. Paddy Wallace kicked two conversions and a penalty while Gavin Duffy also posted a penalty.

Gavin Duffy:"The atmosphere was brilliant, the crowd on its feet, jumping up and down. There was a moat surrounding the pitch which was slightly surreal but probably lent to the backdrop of what was a riot of colour and noise.

"Paddy Wallace got injured during the match and I was handed the kicking responsibilities. I had a penalty to put us back in the lead - at the time I thought it was for us to draw level - as the match drew to a close. I had to wait what seemed like an eternity because of an injury. I was dying to just take it; the wait was excruciating.

"It wasn't difficult. I spotted a guy behind the posts with his tee-shirt over his head and I just aimed for him. It went over but unfortunately Felipe Contepomi went down the pitch and dropped a goal to win the game for them and the place went ballistic."

IRELAND:G Duffy; B Carney, A Trimble, K Lewis, T Bowe; P Wallace, I Boss; B Young, J Flannery, S Best; T Hogan, M O'Kelly; N Best, K Gleeson, J Heaslip.

November 27th, 2004, Lansdowne Road

Ireland 21, Argentina 19

RONAN O'Gara scored all of Ireland's points at a gale-swept Lansdowne Road landing five penalties and two drop goals to allow the home side to squeak home. This match represents the last occasion that Ireland beat the Pumas in a Test match.

Anthony Foley:"It never changes when you square up to Argentina; always the same physical, niggly, uncompromising, grind. It's impossible to enjoy those games and, put it this way, none of those games would make the DVD surrounding my career. Joking aside, the game was predominantly disputed up front, a massive forward battle.

"They bring an aggression to every ruck, maul and contest for the ball and you have to be physically and mentally prepared for that. There was a lot of picking and driving on their part and they had a one-out runner philosophy. I remember at one point galloping down the centre of the pitch - that was a one-off in the context of the game - and offloading to Johnny O'Connor.

"There was always bad feeling between the countries in these matches and that, plus their emphasis on the confrontation up front, made for some very dour encounters. This was no different."

IRELAND:G Dempsey; G Murphy, B O'Driscoll, S Horgan, D Hickie; R O'Gara, P Stringer; M Horan, R Corrigan, S Byrne, J Hayes; M O'Kelly, P O'Connell; S Easterby, J O'Connor, A Foley.

Sunday, October 26th, 2003, Adelaide Oval

Ireland 16, Argentina 15

THIS game was targeted as a must-win match long before Ireland even arrived at the World Cup in Australia. It was just about achieved in a fractious encounter in which Irish prop Reggie Corrigan was gouged. It didn't quite exorcise the memories of Lens but it did allow Ireland to escape the pool despite losing narrowly to the Aussies.

Victor Costello:"I remember the pitch was like a car park, rock hard and one of the worst I have played on in my career. This combined with the fact that Argentina were their usual physical selves made for a very bruising encounter.

"They were a real sticky, spoiling team to play against and the overwhelming feeling we had was that we just wanted to get past this game with a win. They played with a real pride in the jersey and competed for everything. There was no way we could play the game with the fluency we wanted: no way of going through 10 phases and then scoring off the 11th.

"Our try came from a turnover at one of their lineouts when Quinny (Alan Quinlan) robbed possession and took off, making the line with an outstretched arm but dislocating his shoulder in the process. It proved the ultimate sacrifice for the team and we were just glad to get past them."

IRELAND:G Murphy; S Horgan, B O'Driscoll, K Maggs, D Hickie; D Humphreys, P Stringer; R Corrigan, K Wood, J Hayes; M O'Kelly, P O'Connell; S Easterby, A Quinlan, V Costello.

Saturday, November 23rd, 2002, Lansdowne Road

Ireland 16, Argentina 7

ARGENTINE hooker Mario Ledesma didn't endear himself to the Irish team and management when sliding into a prone Gary Longwell, catching the Irish secondrow with his knee. It forced the Ulsterman to retire after 26 minutes but hospital X-rays showed no break. A typically feisty affair played in poor conditions.

Reggie Corrigan:"After losing in 1999 to them at the World Cup in Lens five of us got the chop and I had only got back into the Irish set-up that summer on the tour to New Zealand. There were three games and in the first we beat Australia, the then reigning world champions, at Lansdowne Road. It was the first Southern Hemisphere scalp during Eddie O'Sullivan's tenure as coach.

"We beat Fiji the following week before facing the Pumas. It rained non-stop for three weeks in Ireland during that time and I remember how difficult it was to find a pitch that wasn't waterlogged in terms of training. The match itself was played in a downpour with surface water of about an inch in places: there was times you'd fear drowning in rucks.

"It was excessively physical with plenty of incidents off the ball and I vaguely remember that at the post-match dinner there wasn't a lot of chat between the teams. We had done a huge amount of work on the scrum and it stood to us against a big Argentine pack. I was very happy walking from the pitch but also very sore."

IRELAND:G Dempsey; S Horgan, B O'Driscoll, K Maggs, J Bishop; R O'Gara, P Stringer; R Corrigan, S Byrne, J Hayes; G Longwell, M O'Kelly; A Foley, K Gleeson, V Costello.

Saturday, June 3rd, 2000, Ferrocaril Oeste

Argentina 34, Ireland 23

A NUMBER of frontline Ireland players were forced to cry off before the tour in a season that included the World Cup setback against the Pumas in Lens and just a few weeks prior to this match, Munster's defeat in the Heineken Cup final.

Peter McKenna:"It marked an amazing three weeks for me. One Saturday I won the All-Ireland League with St Mary's College, the next I was playing for the Ireland Sevens team and the third Saturday I won my first cap for Ireland in Argentina.

"I was called in after Girvan Dempsey got injured and Geordan Murphy was unavailable. The morning of the match I panicked because I got a back spasm and that preoccupied me right up to and through the warm-up. The stadium was known as the Cauldron and we arrived a bit late because of the traffic. It meant the warm-up was a little rushed.

"Of the match itself I was struck by the wall of noise that assailed you on running out and the routine the Argentine supporters went through every time David Humphreys went to take a penalty. All those behind the posts jumped up and down and bobbed from side to side to try to put Humphs off. A passionate crowd and a physically uncompromising team, it was a difficult afternoon for us at the end of a long season."

IRELAND:P McKenna; S Hogan, R Henderson, K Maggs, J Bishop; D Humphreys, P Stringer; P Clohessy, K Wood, J Hayes; M Galwey, M O'Kelly; S Easterby, D Wallace, A Foley.

Wednesday, October 20th, 1999, Stade Felix Bollaert

Argentina 28, Ireland 24

DIEGO Albanese will forever hold a place in Irish rugby history as the Argentine wing dashed a dream, his late try sending Ireland spiralling out of the 1999 Rugby World Cup in Lens. David Humphreys kicked seven penalties and a drop goal.

Conor O'Shea:"We had won the World Cup warm-up game at Lansdowne Road comfortably enough but knew that we faced a good Argentine side in Lens; one that wasn't given enough credit, something from which they suffered for most of the last decade.

"We started the game well and kicked our penalties but then let them back into the match. I remember that we were camped on their line and at one stage there were 29 players between the posts on the Argentinian line and I stood out on the touchline in splendid isolation waving for the cross-kick.

"David Humphreys saw me but the ball never came out to him so there was nothing he could do. There was utter desolation from an Irish perspective when they scored that late try and again after the final whistle soon after. If you're tracing the genesis of what they have become in rugby terms you could probably go back to that match."

IRELAND:C O'Shea; J Bishop, B O'Driscoll, K Maggs, M Mostyn; D Humphreys, T Tierney; R Corrigan, K Wood, P Wallace; J Davidson, M O'Kelly; A Ward, K Dawson, D O'Cuinneagain.

Saturday, August 28th, 1999, Lansdowne Road

Ireland 32, Argentina 24

AUSTRALIAN-born wing Matt Mostyn scored a hat-trick of tries while there were also big performances from Keith Wood and a 20-year-old Brian O'Driscoll. Ireland dominated three quarters of the match but the Pumas finished strongly scoring 21 points, including two tries from scrumhalf Agustin Pichot, in the last 20 minutes of the match.

David Humphreys:"My memories of the specifics of the match would be quite sketchy but unlike many of the subsequent contests between Ireland and Argentina this was a fairly open affair. Certainly there was more expansive rugby played in this match that any other I can recall.

"The fixture didn't quite at that point have the same edge that would subsequently develop. It was a relatively young Argentine squad, one that would go on to become a very good one in the Test arena. At that point there were not many Pumas playing rugby in the Northern Hemisphere but their numbers grew with each passing season and as a result they became more and more competitive, taking several high-profile scalps.

"Sadly we would discover that to our cost later that year when they beat us in the World Cup at Lens. Despite the fact that we were due to meet then there wasn't a huge amount taken from our victory at Lansdowne Road."

IRELAND:C O'Shea; J Bishop, B O'Driscoll, K Maggs, M Mostyn; D Humphreys, T Tierney; P Clohessy, K Wood, P Wallace; P Johns, J Davidson; T Brennan, A Ward, D O'Cuinneagain.