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)
It was a record victory for Les Bleus as they cruised to a bonus-point success, with 54 points racked up in the opening half and 42 in a second in a canter.
The Uruguayans were much the better side in the first half and deservedly went 17-7 ahead at the interval through Nicolas Freitas' score, a penalty try and Felipe Etcheverry's drop-goal.
The famous win throws Pool C wide open as the islanders move on to six points, level with Australia and four behind Wales with two matches still to play.
It was far from pleasing on the eye but the Red Rose got the job done as they backed up their opening triumph over Argentina with a bonus-point success.
As the scoreline suggests, this was a one-sided affair as the defending world champions dominated from start to finish and eventually ran in 12 tries with Cobus Reinach and Makazole Mapimpi crossing for a hat-trick apiece.
Tougher tests await in South Africa and Scotland but on the evidence of their opening two matches, Andy Farrell's men look in fine shape.
The Portuguese were impressive throughout and caused their opponents numerous problems, but the greater quality eventually told.
Tries late in the first half and several in the second were enough to keep a brave Chile side at bay despite their best efforts.
It was one-way traffic in the Pool A clash as the All Blacks ran in 11 tries on the night, with Damian McKenzie adding a further 16 points off the tee.
The game in Lille was predicted to be a comfortable result for Les Bleus but it was anything but as Los Teros will view this as a match they could have won.
The Fijians came agonisingly close to recovering from 32-14 down with just seven minutes remaining, but a knock-on from Semi Radradra ended their fight.
It wasn’t a game full of entertaining and free-flowing rugby as both sides rolled up their sleeves in a battle that the Springboks ultimately got the better of.
The game was filled with running from start to finish with the sharp-shooting boot of fly-half Rikiya Matsuda and six tries enough to secure the Brave Blossoms their first victory of this year’s tournament.
Despite being without Tom Curry after he received an upgraded yellow card to red after barely three minutes, England produced an inspired performance.
The fly-half played 66 minutes in Bordeaux, and he celebrated his comeback match with two tries and seven conversions as the Irish cruised to five points.
The drought is finally over for the Wallabies as tries from Jordan Petaia, Mark Nawaqanitawase and Ben Donaldson (2) sealed a first-up pool triumph.
Although it was a comfortable win in the end, the Azzurri were made to work hard for the result, especially in the opening half when their opponents put in a competitive performance.
Tries from Damian Penaud and Melvyn Jaminet were added to by 17 points from the boot of Thomas Ramos as Les Bleus claimed a deserved triumph.
In a fast-paced and exciting encounter in which both sides gave the ball plenty of air, Les Bleus were full value for their win as they held the upper-hand for long periods and eventually outscored their opponents by four tries to three.