Argentina got the better of the Latin dog-fight at the Vélez Sarsfield Stadium in Buenos Aires, battling their way to a 10-6 win over a weakened France side in a game littered by stoppages and errors.
The only try of the game went the way of the Pumas in the first minute, wing José María Nunez Piossek working a good angle to breach the French defence, while coach Bernard Laporte's tourists were left scratching their heads after an incohesive and stop-start display, in this first of two Tests ahead of next weekend's re-match.
Toulouse fly-half Yann Delaigue blew two crucial but easy first-half penalty attempts on his comeback, while their largely untested pack sorely missed the big names who had been spared the trip, with Fabien Pelous, Jean-Jacques Crenca, Raphael Ibanez, Olivier Magne and Serge Betsen all possessing the class which Saturday's eight sadly did not.
In fairness, Toulouse openside Christian Labit made a decent fist of his comeback opportunity with some good breaks and all-round endeavour, and lock David Auradou battled well, but the lightweight front row struggled against the seasoned snarlers in the Pumas pack, who were at their destructive and devious best as they slowed down attack after attack by both foul and fair means.
New Leinster fly-half Felipe Contepomi slotted a penalty and a conversion for his side to guarantee the win, with hooker Mario Ledesma, scrum-half Nicolás Fernández Miranda and wing Diego Albanese all taking the game by the scruff of the neck.
Despite Les Bleus being without a number of their stars up front, their make-up behind the scrum was not light years away from their best mix, the likes of centres Thomas Castaignède and Damien Traille attempting in vain to breach the gainline time and again, while fullback Clément Poitrenaud's attacking pace was not given sufficent exposure.
English referee Steve Lander exerted a big influence on the match with a whole string of penalties to both teams, although the players did little to help with their almost constant offending, as well as the archetypal Latin temperaments boiling over on occasion.
In an unspectacular first half it was the Pumas who had the most of the scoring chances, Piossek making the most of his as early as the first minute to send his side into an early lead with a well-taken try.
It was created by fly-half Felipe Contepomi -- whose brother Manuel was in the centres -- with a miss pass to the right, but it was very much Piossek's timely and clinical execution of a side-step from his right foot at pace which made the gap, Castaignède being wrong-footed as Piossek straightened the angle and dived under the posts spectacularly.
Contepomi converted, but only a minute later the French had a chance to get themselves back in the match with a penalty to the left of the posts, although Delaigue's composure deserted him at the vital moment as he missed to the right.
Some good clearing punts from fullback Ignacio Corleto and the odd break from backs Lisandro Arbizu and Albanese were the bright spots for Los Pumas early on, although messy scrums and a series of penalties from both sides marred the match.
Castaignède and Traille attempted to make forays into Pumas' territory, but their best chance of points was again spurned when Delaigue missed an even easier penalty attempt than his first, from right in front of the posts near the 22.
Just when it looked like Piossek's try would be the only score of the half, Contepomi added a penalty to make the half-time score 10-0 to the hosts, coming back for advantage after narrowly failing to put Piossek in the corner with a grubber kick, fullback Poitrenaud getting in the way at the vital moment. But Contepomi made no mistake with the penalty from wide on the right wing.
What the first half had lacked in incident, the second also did, with some bruising forward play allowing clear chances in the backs, the French knocking on time and again when the line beckoned, memorably through lock Auradou near the end after a flowing move, Auradou cursing himself for spilling an easy chance right near the line.
But Les Bleus did get on the scoreboard earlier in the second half, with centre Traille taking over the kicking mantle after Delaigue's previous two blunders, striking a firm penalty high and true through the uprights to get his side to within seven points of the hosts.
And they could have drawn level some moments later were it nor for Scottish TMO Iain Ramage, who controversially ruled that wing Aurélien Rugerie had knocked on when touching down his hack ahead in the Pumas' try area after a 50-metre chase down the right flank.
When Les Bleus were handed a penalty in front of the posts soon after, it was back to Delaigue to do the kicking honours, and in his third attempt he finally made a decent connection and sent the simple kick over for three points.
With the clock working against them, France frantically went for the try, although a wonky line-out throw from Jean-Baptiste Rué in the dying minutes right near the Argentine line did not help their cause, to the audible delight of the sizable Buenos Aires crowd.
Contepomi had previously missed a penalty from right of the posts by the slimmest of margins as his own team mounted a foray into French territory, but referee Lander finally brought an end to a tight and unentertaining encounter, leaving many questions unanswered about this weakened French team, while the Pumas again proved that they are a seriously tough not to crack on home soil.
Man of the match: It might seem odd to choose a back in a game which was so massively influenced by the forwards, so combative Argentina wing Diego Albanese is just beaten to our award by a tough performance by hooker Mario Ledesma, who was all over the field in loose play, solid in the line-outs and huge in the scrums. On the French side, tighthead Pieter de Villiers made a solid return after his suspension, while Damien Traille was a handful in the centres.
Moment of the match: In a game short of noteworthy moments, José María Nunez Piossek's splendid try in the opening seconds of the match showed that the Pumas do possess dangerous backs -- if only they could get the ball to them more.
Villain of the match: Despite the odd bout of Latin fisticuffs there was no real nastiness in the game, leaving French fly-half Yann Delaigue as our villain for his two early shocking penalty misses, which cost his side dear in the end.
The Teams:
Argentina: 1 Mauricio Reggiardo, 2 Mario Ledesma Arocena, 3 Martin Scelzo, 4 Patricio Albacete, 5 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 6 Lucas Ostiglia, 7 Santiago Phelan, 8 Gonzalo Longo Elia, 9 Nicolas Fernandez Miranda, 10 Felipe Contepomi, 11 Diego Albanese, 12 Lisandro Arbizu (c), 13 Manuel Contepomi, 14 Jose Nunez Piossek, 15 Ignacio Corleto
Reserves: Santiago Bonnorino, Juan Martin Hernandez, Federico Mendez, Pedro Sporleder
Unused: Rimas Alvarez Kairelis, Matias Albina, Gonzalo Quesada
France: 1 Pieter De Villiers, 2 Jean-Baptiste Rue, 3 Olivier Milloud, 4 David Auradou, 5 Jerome Thion, 6 Christian Labit, 7 Patrick Tabacco, 8 Jean Bouilhou, 9 Fabien Galthie (c), 10 Yann Delaigue, 11 Aurelien Rougerie, 12 Thomas Castaignede, 13 Damien Traille, 14 Christophe Dominici, 15 Clement Poitrenaud
Reserves: Imanol Harinordoquy, Sylvain Marconnet
Unused: Yannick Bru, Pepito Elhorga, Yannick Jauzion, Frederic Michalak, Lionel Nallet
Referee: Lander s.
Points Scorers:
Argentina
Tries: Nunez Piossek J.M. 1
Conv: Contepomi F. 1
Pen K.: Contepomi F. 1
France
Pen K.: Traille D. 1, Delaigue Y. 1
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