Argentina 28 France 27

Argentina held on for a 28-27 victory over Six Nations champions France in a stunning match in Buenos Aires, French fly-half Gerald Merceron missing an injury-time penalty to give the Pumas their first win over Les Bleus in ten years.

It was a game of huge passion, with no quarter given or asked by the players on either side and finished in nailbiting fashion with France mounting a late comeback.

Indeed, so close was the contest that France almost snatched a victory when they were awarded a penalty kick two minutes into injury time.

Unbelievably, given that Merceron had been successful with all five of his previous kicks at goal, the fly-half could not find his range with the kick, enabling the Pumas to enjoy their moment of glory at Velez Sarsfield stadium.

In any event, such an outcome would have been a cruel blow for an Argentina side who had dominated the game in all departments throughout the match, giving the tourists a torrid time throughout the absorbing spectacle that will go some way to making up for home nation's recent sporting woes in the FIFA World Cup, which saw the soccer team failing to reach the knock-out stages.

While the scores were level at 6-all at half-time, Felipe Contepomi and Merceron both kicking two penalties apiece in a first 40 typified by blockbusting defence and wholehearted commitment, Argentina suddenly snapped into gear in the second half to shock the French.

Applying the pressure in both set-piece and loose play – Pumas No.7 Rolando Martin having a mighty match in this latter area – Argentina racked up 19 unanswered to go from 13-9 down to 28-13 lead.

It was hooker Federico Mendez, wing Diego Albanese and Felipe Contepomi who did the damage, crossing a French defensive line that had been nigh-on impregnable for much of the recent Six Nations.

With French looking down and out, Les Bleus launched a remarkable last-quarter fightback that saw them come close to snatching victory.

First, a turnover in the Pumas' half saw Nicolas Brusque crashing over for a try in the left hand corner after some fine work from centre Tony Marsh.

Marsh was once again in the thick of battle just a few minutes later, running a perfect support angle to cross over for a try of his own.

With Merceron converting both tries, France were just one point away from their hosts but Merceron's last-ditch miss was to cost them the game.

France must pick themselves up from this shattering defeat and prepare themselves for next week's Test against Australia, while the Pumas will be aiming to add another high-profile scalp to their list of conquests when they face England next Saturday.

The Teams:

Argentina:  1 Omar Hasan Jalil, 2 Federico Mendez, 3 Mauricio Reggiardo, 4 Rimas Alvarez Kairelis, 5 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 6 Rolando Martin, 7 Santiago Phelan, 8 Gonzalo Longo Elia, 9 Agustin Pichot, 10 Felipe Contepomi, 11 Diego Albanese, 12 Lisandro Arbizu (c), 13 Jose Orengo, 14 Gonzalo Camardon, 15 Ignacio Corletto
Reserves:  Martin Durand, Roberto Grau, Mario Ledesma Arocena, Gonzalo Quesada
Unused:  Nicolas Fernandez Miranda, Lucas Ostiglia, Jose Nunez Piossek

France:  1 Jean-Jacques Crenca, 2 Raphael Ibanez (c), 3 Jean-Baptiste Poux, 4 Olivier Brouzet, 5 Fabien Pelous, 6 Serge Betsen Tchoua, 7 Olivier Magne, 8 Christian Labit, 9 Pierre Mignoni, 10 Gerald Merceron, 11 Aurelien Rougerie, 12 Tony Marsh, 13 Damien Traille, 14 Nicolas Jeanjean, 15 Nicolas Brusque
Reserves:  Olivier Azam, Sebastien Chabal, Sylvain Marconnet, Christophe Porcu
Unused:  Francois Gelez, Yannick Jauzion, Frederic Michalak

Attendance:  35000
Referee:  Marshall p.

Points Scorers:

Argentina
Tries:  Albanese D.L. 1, Contepomi F. 1, Mendez F.E. 1
Conv:  Contepomi F. 2
Pen K.:  Contepomi F. 2
Drop G.:  Quesada G. 1

France
Tries:  Brusque N. 1, Jeanjean N. 1, Marsh T. 1
Conv:  Merceron G. 3
Pen K.:  Merceron G. 2