Head coach Daniel Hourcade believes Argentina have the firepower to worry anyone.
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The Pumas completed Pool C with a nine-try, 64-19 win over Namibia at Leicester City Stadium and have scored more points than holders New Zealand, South Africa, Australia and Wales in their first four games.
Ireland will provide the opposition in the last eight, but Hourcade is unfazed.
“We have the weapons we need to go against our rivals,” Hourcade said. “Ireland play in the northern hemisphere and play that way, but they’ve got some characteristics from the southern hemisphere, so they play a bit differently, very dynamic. We feel comfortable with that, because we’re used to that sort of game.”
967 metres made & counting for #ARG… that is not a typo!! #ARG pic.twitter.com/9lUOq5hMF0
— Rugby World Cup (@rugbyworldcup) October 11, 2015
Juan Martin Hernandez, Matias Moroni, Horacio Agulla – one of three Pumas in the matchday 23 with a Leicester Tigers connection – Facundo Isa and Lucas Noguera scored first-half tries. And Matias Alemanno, Leonardo Senatore, Julian Montoya and Tomas Cubelli crossed the line in the second.
Namibia exited by making another impression following their first World Cup point last Wednesday, a losing bonus against Georgia.
They scored three tries as Johan Tromp capitalised on poor Pumas handling while down to 14 men.
JC Greyling punished another Argentina mistake early in the second half and Eugene Jantjies scored the game’s final try.
There was no Diego Maradona for inspiration this time, but the football World Cup winner, who danced in the changing room following last week’s defeat of Tonga, says he will return if the Pumas make the semi-finals.
Improvement will be needed if his promise is to be fulfilled.
Captain Martin Landajo said: “We’re trying to think about quarter-finals, not semi-finals. It would be a huge error to think about that. Let’s think about quarter-finals and if something good happens we will wait for him.”
