O'Driscoll bangs Irish drum

12 April 2012

Brian O'Driscoll insists it would be a "travesty" if Ireland fail to stun Argentina and reach the World Cup quarter-finals.

Ireland must beat the Pumas by at least seven points while scoring a minimum of four tries at the Parc des Princes on Sunday if they are to progress.

"It would be a travesty to work as hard as we have done for the past three months in pre-season, and four years since the last World Cup, and not put in a performance," said O'Driscoll.

"We're adopting the attitude that we know that we're capable of doing it. We're capable of a huge performance," he said. "It's the last game of the pool stages and we know that if we don't produce something enormous then this will be our last game in this World Cup."

"It's very much last-chance saloon. We're just hopeful that we can produce the form that everyone knows this team is capable of."

Argentina have looked hugely impressive during the World Cup and their tryline has to yet to be breached.

But O'Driscoll believes the return of full-back Geordan Murphy and Denis Hickie to the starting line-up has improved their chances of securing the try-scoring bonus point.

"The Argentinians have based their game around their defence and they'll be very difficult to break down," said the Leinster centre. "But we've managed to score tries against great defences before, the likes of France, Australia and New Zealand.

"It's going to take a monumental performance but we have to think about just winning game and if there's four tries then fantastic.

"With the two guys coming in, without being disrespectful to the lads they're replaced, we've probably got more line-breakers - players that can create something out of nothing."

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