Schmidt in sombre mood as Argentinian party begins

So many moments to have to inhale. So many sighs and gasps that the air in the closed Millennium Stadium at times felt too thin to breathe.

With every Irish attack and Argentinean counter 72,000 people were alive to the fact that both teams had come to play. And with every break and tackle, Ireland’s hopes lay on what Joe Schmidt had instilled in the Irish team: belief and purpose. Character and responsibility. Most came crashing down.

“I can tell you the dressing room is very disappointed,” said Schmidt. “It was difficult but that’s the nature of the game.

“We got ourselves under pressure from the start. I would say that character was shown to fight our way back into the match...at 23 -20 down and for a kick to shave off the upright to make it 23 all...”

Character was why falling to a better team hurt. It was the faith the fans had in Schmidt and in the dream he created, one that could be believed, one of a World Cup semifinal. It all made the pain a little sharper.

The only consolation on a day of high octane action was that, as the Argentinean fans danced and sang their way into the Cardiff streets, in their joy we could see a little bit of ourselves.

We knew what it meant, what their team had done for them and for their country and in a strange way there was cold comfort in that.

"I feel amazing. I don't know how to explain," said the Argentina captain, Augustin Creevy. "We've been looking for this for a long time. I don't know what to say. It's a dream for some people. It's been a lot of people working hard. Everyone is part of the journey. I can't put my happiness in words."

As Schmidt and captain Jamie Heaslip spoke, the cheers and singing echoed up from the Argentina changing room. The two sat eyes forward. But it was loud enough and clear enough to now the party had begun.

It was difficult to paint the scene as anything other than shattering. In Heaslip and Schmidt there was dignity but also regret that they didn’t have their full staff. It was implicitly said.

“I think it was very hard not to respect the performance that Argentina put on. It was very hard to win collisions either side of the ball. And that allowed them get off to a very, very good start,” said Schmidt.

“It wouldn’t have been a massive confidence boost for a team that was probably lacking a bit of experience, a few cool heads to try to manage the various areas of the field...probably over committed at times, got caught as a result. And coming down the wide channels they had some players with great footwork and pace.”

The Argentina package was no surprise to Schmidt or his players. For a long period they had torn pieces out of the All Blacks in their first pool match at Wembley Stadium, playing the same way.

Ferocious at the break down and in collisions and with wide runners who, given a sliver of space, could punish anyone. Left wing Juan Imhoff showed that.

“They really were superb the way they physically bustled you when they didn’t have the ball,” said the Irish coach. “The way they slowed your ball down so that they have nice set targets to line up and knock over. It makes it very difficult to play.

“When we had two or three in the tackle to stop them, they had guys like (Pablo) Matera, (Leonardo) Senatore and (Tomas) Lavanini. They were tending to win collisions so when we had one tackler, two tacklers maybe three tacklers and because we had to put more guys in those tackles we were numbers down and when you are numbers down then they’ll get space on the edge and they got that at times.”

Argentina’s coach Daniel Hourcade found explanation for his team’s hard, high tempo, their fluid and nimble brand of play rooted in the decision three years ago to allow Argentina play in the Rugby Championship against the best – New Zealand, South Africa and Australia. That has allowed them blossom.

“For us the growth has been enormous since 2012,” said Hourcade. “We started changing, started building. It goes a long way back. Since that moment it was important.

“Playing every year requires preparation and perfection. That allows you get used to it and this type of game becomes normal. Plus we like it.

“This is what’s happening...Being part of Super Rugby next year means the future is fantastic as well.”

Ireland will lick their wounds, plan for Japan. Dream new dreams.

“We had to be ready to stop them,” said Schmidt. “Although the players worked hard they weren’t able to do so.”