Argentina bounced back from their opening Rugby World Cup loss to England by beating Samoa 19-10 in a disappointing Pool D game at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard.
The rain didn't help but there was little entertainment and attacking quality on show, with Los Pumas grinding out a vital win in the race for the knockouts.
Emiliano Boffelli scored his team's only try and also contributed 11 points off the tee while Nicolas Sanchez landed a late, long-range penalty to seal victory.
For Samoa they were eager to build on their recent triumph over Chile but they struggled to fire a shot and now have an upward task if they are to qualify.
Their only try in Saint-Etienne came late through replacement hooker Sama Malolo to set up a nail-biting finish for Los Pumas but they saw out the win.
Any pre-match pressures for Argentina were eased when Samoa full-back Duncan Paia'aua was sent to the sin-bin in the opening minute of the contest.
His absence was felt as Los Pumas hit the front with Boffelli going over in the right-hand corner before converting his own try.
Three successful penalties from the Edinburgh wing followed, with a Christian Leali'ifano penalty getting Samoa on the board in the first half.
Samoa's defence held firm in the latter stages as they pushed to get back into the game and Malolo's try ― converted by D'Angelo Leuila ― put the cat among the pigeons.
However, Argentina, who finished fourth at the 2015 World Cup but failed to get out of the pool stage in Japan four years ago, held on and wrapped up the win through Sanchez's penalty.
The loss to England presented the possibility of another early exit but securing the points here gives them hope of continuing on and they now face South American rivals Chile in Nantes next Saturday.
An out-of-sorts Samoa, meanwhile, will now need results against potentially both Japan and England if they are to sneak into the quarter-finals.
The teams
Argentina: 15 Juan Cruz Mallia, 14 Emiliano Boffelli, 13 Matias Moroni, 12 Santiago Chocobares, 11 Mateo Carreras, 10 Santiago Carreras, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 8 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Matias Alemanno, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Eduardo Bello, 2 Julian Montoya (c), 1 Thomas Gallo
Replacements: 16 Agustin Creevy, 17 Mayco Vivas, 18 Francisco Gomez Kodela, 19 Pedro Rubiolo, 20 Rodrigo Bruni, 21 Tomas Cubelli, 22 Nicolas Sanchez, 23 Lucio Cinti
Samoa: 15 Duncan Paia'aua, 14 Nigel Ah-Wong, 13 UJ Seuteni, 12 Tumua Manu, 11 Ben Lam, 10 Christian Leali'ifano, 9 Jonathan Taumateine, 8 Steven Luatua, 7 Fritz Lee, 6 Theo McFarland, 5 Chris Vui (c), 4 Brian Alainu'u'ese, 3 Paul Alo-Emile, 2 Seilala Lam, 1 James Lay
Replacements: 16 Sama Malolo, 17 Charlie Faumuina, 18 Michael Alaalatoa, 19 Taleni Seu, 20 Sa Jordan Taufua, 21 Melani Matavao, 22 D'Angelo Leuila, 23 Danny Toala
Referee: Nic Berry (Australia)
Assistant Referees: Nika Amashukeli (Georgia), Jordan Way (Australia)
TMO: Brett Cronan (Australia)
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