It was an afternoon for the piano movers, the beefy brothers of the front row. The Pumas pack is regarded as the ultimate barometer by which to be judged when it comes to scrummaging. John O'Sullivan gets a front row view on the game

On Saturday afternoon Ireland's forwards and particularly the front row of Reggie Corrigan, man-of-the-match Shane Byrne and John Hayes set down a marker for future encounters.

Ireland's lineout was almost flawless while the scrum just shaded their opponents managing to get a wheel on several times. It was this set piece precision that underpinned Ireland's victory. Coach Eddie O'Sullivan was understandably delighted: "I think the key was that the set piece was superb in very trying conditions both in the air and under foot.

"The lineout was excellent and they scrummed very, very well. That gave us a platform to drive at them which was the only way over the gain line in the conditions, either kick it or drive it. At the end of the day I would be very happy with our set piece play, it was right up there.

"We have our time allocations every week and the forwards have separate unit sessions so it was no different in that respect but I think we spent a lot of time this week trying to defend and concentrating on stopping their rolling mauls at source.

"Our maul operated a lot better than theirs did which was an interesting aspect to the match. A lot of the time they couldn't maul because we defended it so well. I was very happy with the defence, particularly around the fringes where they tend to do a lot of damage. They didn't really make much headway." The best performance by an Ireland pack in his tenure? "It was right up there. In New Zealand we performed very well this year in the scrum as well, so it is hard to pick one over the other but it was a pretty complete performance by the pack. Especially on a day when if we were going to win the game the pack had to deliver and they did."

For new dad Shane Byrne, proud father of twin girls Alex and Kerry, life probably won't get much better. His lineout throwing yesterday was staggering given the conditions but he was keen to deflect the plaudits. "We took our time and that was important in the conditions. The lads worked superbly and as a unit it functioned very well.

"I could throw the exact same balls on another day against a team with a better defensive lineout and they would poach several balls. I wouldn't have thrown any less accurately, the opposition would just have read our lineouts better. There is such a fine line.

"I got caught for one crooked in and will have to look at it on video. It shouldn't happen. You can never be happy because it prevents you from developing." And what about those soccer skills towards the end of the match? "Ah yeh, it's a facet of my game I'm looking to use more," he laughed.

"The scrummaging was hard, very physical but John (Hayes) and Reggie (Corrigan) really stood up to the plate today. We were conscious that we weren't going down on their terms, we went down on ours. We have a good unit when we worked together."

For John Hayes it was another benchmark in his Ireland career and a notch for an improved scrumagging technique that withstood the toughest of tests. "Definitely what we expected as they are the top scrummaging side in the world. The weather meant that there was always going to be an extra knock on or two, so more scrums. "We played more conservatively, so there wouldn't be as many knocks on but the conditions guaranteed that several balls squirmed out. We were happy enough with the way it went. On a day like that everyone just focuses the minds on the scrums."