The Irish management will have no darker nights in their careers and it was etched all over their gloomy faces at the post-match press conference. However, there was also a hint of a defiant streak that, despite the inevitable blood-letting and post-mortems to come, they intend to at least see out their contracts until the conclusion of the Six Nations Championship.

Whether they'll be let is another matter. The IRFU committee members will assuredly be feeling the pinch from Sunday's anti-climactic quarterfinal, as well as running the gauntlet of aggrieved fans and commentators. One recalls a leading member of that committee being harangued on at least half a dozen occasions by individual Irish supporters on the short journey from Lansdowne Road to the Berkeley Court Hotel after the Australian match. That match may have sowed the seeds of doubt apparent in last night's performance.

Not noted for their patience, it only needs a few critical voices to start a momentum from within to change, or at least to be seen to be doing something.

Speaking on television immediately afterwards, and when asked where Ireland went from here (home being the obvious answer) Warren Gatland said "on to the Six Nations, which is an important tournament and a new tournament."

Similarly, there was a hint of anger in Donal Lenihan's reaction when asked if Irish rugby had reached something of a nadir.

"Absolutely not. When you go out of the World Cup after preparing for it for 16 months it's very disappointing. I feel we have made progress in the last 16 months. You may disagree with that, but when you realise the amount of hard work that has gone in, that's what makes it so difficult to take the loss.

"There was a period early in the second half when we could have scored a try. We didn't, and we paid the price."

As for the inability to score even one try - and they had the ball 22 times in the Argentina 22 - Lenihan said: "The try scoring has proved difficult in the past but I think it's something we've improved on in the last 16 months, but in the heat of battle we couldn't manage it out there tonight, and that's what cost us the game."

The management and the players have failed to obtain the stated objectives of two wins in the Five Nations and reaching the semi-finals of the World Cup, prompting Gatland to merely admit: "we haven't achieved the goals we set out to achieve."

Asked whether fatigue may have been a factor in the late collapse which saw Argentina outscore Ireland by 19-3 in the last 34 minutes, Gatland said: "I don't think fatigue was a factor. The players are very fit at the moment but once Argentina got in front their adrenaline really started to pump and that was the difference.

"I thought at the end of the match the guys were still trying hard to score points. I definitely wouldn't question the character of the players who took the field."

Gatland also declined to make an issue of whether Ireland had a case for a penalty try in their furious late assault on the Argentinean line. "You're disappointed that you don't score by legitimate means. People have said there was a possibility of a penalty try given the number of fouls in the last minutes but you can't rely on those decisions."

Asked how disappointed the players were, Gatland said: "You only have to go into the dressing-room to see how disappointed the players are." Alas, the irritating presence of an interpreter cut short this response, as with others.

Gatland gave credit to the Argentineans. "They never gave in. If we could have gone a further three points ahead during the second-half, we could have gone on to win the game. But they kept hanging in.

"The disappointing thing for us was the number of penalties we gave away which kept them (Argentina) in the game. That was the point we stressed at half-time, not to give Quesada the chance to kick at goal.

"I don't think the flow of the game was helped by the number of penalties (33 in all). So many of them were going over that I think that was the main reason neither side kicked to the corner as much as normal, so the game was very stop start."