By Kevin McCallum
France (9) 12
Penalties: Skrela (4)
Argentina (17) 17
Try: Corleto; Penalties: Felipe Contepomi (4)
They used to bury kings in Basilique St Denis in the north of Paris and on Friday night, in the opening match of the sixth Rugby World Cup, Argentina dug a huge hole for the hosts to climb out of.
Now their game against Ireland at the same stadium on September 21 is absolutely vital. Lose that and they will be knocked out and if that happens the tournament will suffer. But that is a story for another day. This morning the story of the little team that thought they could will be splashed all over the world as Argentina held on in a scrappy, yet intense opener.
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"We are not the best tactical players," said captain Agustin Pichot, "but we have passion and hope, and that's what spurs us on. Rugby is played with 90 percent of your heart. We have a lot of respect for France, 80 percent of us play here and we thank them for that."
The French looked nervous, too eager to play it fancy and free when they would have been best served keeping it down and dirty. Their decision making was poor, an indication of the massive pressure that weighs down on the shoulders of Raphael Ibanez's men.
Flank Remy Martin, a strong ball carrier, showed this when he passed too early as the French thundered up on a breakaway attack. Argentine wing Horacio Agulla intercepted and within a flash the ball was in the hands of fullback Ignacio Corleto, running a superb angle from left to right that carved a clear path to the French tryline.
The majority of the Stade de France groaned while the fervent band of Argentinians went absolutely dilly. There was some respite when Felipe Contepomi missed his only kick of the first half, hitting the post with the conversion. David Skrela pulled the lead back to eight points with his second penalty of the night, only to see Contepomi belt over a cracker of a penalty kick from within his own half.
Earlier Contepomi had scored the opening points of the sixth Rugby World Cup, becoming the third-fastest to be the first points scorer in the history of the tournament. His penalty after six minutes is only beaten by Michael Lynagh's third-minute penalty against South Africa in 1995 and Jon Webb's first-minute kick when England took on New Zealand in 1991.
In the opening 20 minutes Contemponi knocked over three penalties from tight angles to give the Pumas a 9-3 lead, with the French replying with a three-pointer from the boot of Skrela.
But Argentina were forced to defend furiously in the second. Six minutes after the break a French maul was dragged down centimetres short of the line. The French secured the ball and banged away at the tryline through half a dozen phases, but could not find a gap. A combination of Corleto and hooker Mario Ledesma Arocena hunted down wing Christophe Dominici and forced a pressure-relieving penalty.
Not even the arrival of Sebastian Chabal and Frederik Michalak could change the fortunes of the French. The Sharks-bound flyhalf missed an easy penalty nine minutes from time. Contepomi could have driven in the nail in the final five minutes but missed two penalties. Today France will mourn and Argentina will celebrate.
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