Brian O'Driscoll revealed Ireland refused to be intimidated by Argentina in today's 17-3 victory after being criticised for their capitulation to New Zealand. Declan Kidney's side guaranteed inclusion among the second seeds for next month's 2011 World Cup draw by edging a fractious encounter at Croke Park.

Tempers frequently boiled over and skipper O'Driscoll revealed his side wanted to silence suggestions they had surrendered too easily to the All Blacks last weekend.

"We weren't going to take a backwards step. When teams come to Croke Park we're not here to be bullied or shoved around," he said.

"We didn't initiate too much but if anything was going on then we certainly weren't backing down. That's how it has to be.

"It showed great camaraderie that everyone was there for one another. No one was going to get picked on.

"If there were any scuffles then there were always guys there on your shoulder to help out. It was important that we looked after one another.

"We mentioned during the week that these games are physical and that we wouldn't be pushed around.

"It's in our nature to be hard, rugged people and it hurt us a little bit that certain factions of the media said we were pushed around by the All Blacks.

"That hurt our pride and we weren't prepared to let it happen today."

"It's always physical against Argentina. I've never played against them and not woken up the next day knowing I've been in a hard fought game," said O'Driscoll

"Throughout the years there's been so much at stake every time we've played them, usually in World Cups or looking for revenge because of what's happened at a World Cup.

"The rankings issue meant there was a lot at stake this time too. There was huge honesty from us.

"It was a brutal game but sometimes you just have to roll your sleeves up and getting stuck in."

Ireland's triumph was marred by the late withdrawal of flanker David Wallace because of a neck injury, but Kidney revealed the damage incurred was minor.

"There will be soft tissue damage but he'll be okay. You have to be careful with an injury like that," said Kidney.

Argentina were hit by the late withdrawal of star playmaker Juan Martin Hernandez to a hamstring problem.

Pumas coach Santiago Phelan revealed Hernandez had been carrying the injury all week but hoped to be ready to face Ireland.

"During the warm up he pulled out — it was impossible for him to kick and we decided not to play him," he said.

"The decision was made half an hour before kick-off. We knew about the injury but we worked hard to get him fit for the game.

"Yesterday he was okay but in the warm up he suffered a twinge."

Ronan O'Gara took the man of the match honours after kicking 12 of Ireland's points and he backed up his captain's assertions that the result was all the mattered

"It was ugly but it doesn't really matter. We needed to win, today was a chance to get back on track after the disappointment of last weekend. It was far from perfect but we've beaten a dogged Argentinian team. We needed to make a statement and hopefully today is a turning point," said O'Gara.

Kidney was quick to point out that Ireland played as well as they were let by an opposition expert at strangling the life out of a game.

"I think it was the kind of game that Argentina let you play, we know it wasn't an exciting game and that there are more strings to our bow. Confidence hasn't been overly high so hopefully today will go some way towards solving that.

"We did what we had to do by keeping the pressure on them, but it was real cup final, chess-type match. We'll take a look at what we can do better."

Referring to his side's game plan, Kidney knew that patience was the order of the day against the South Americans.

"You have to keep turning them. It took us 76 minutes to break them down for a try but you have to relate that to the fact that it's the first try scored against them in three matches. They are a difficult team to break down but well take the result, it's very important to us going forward."