Argentina 63-3 Namibia

Argentina made it three wins from three in overpowering Namibia 63-3 to gain a classy bonus-point win at the Stade Velodrome and regain control of Pool D ahead of hosts France.

Argentina racked up nine tries against a flagging Namibia, fly-half Felipe Contepomi scoring the crucial fourth and weighing in with 14 points from the boot and number eight Juan Manuel Leguizamon helping himself to a brace.

The win left Argentina top of Pool D on 14 points, four ahead of hosts France, who they beat 17-12 in the opening match of the tournament, and five ahead of Ireland.

The Pumas need only earn a defensive bonus point in their final game against Ireland to guarantee top spot and avoid a quarter-final against the All Blacks.

The Marseille crowd were clearly hoping Argentina would slip up and give France a chance of snatching first place, a huge roar going up when fly-half Morne Schreuder put Namibia in front with a penalty in the seventh minute.

But their spirits were dampened when opposite number Contepomi levelled the scores with another kick three minutes later.

Contepomi settled an edgy Argentina when he kicked another penalty to make it 6-3 after the video referee denied his brother Manuel a try and the Pumas upped the pressure from the restart.

They got straight back in the Namibian 22 and laid siege to the line with prop Rodrigo Roncero eventually piling his way over from close range on 25 minutes.

With a try under their belt, the Pumas stepped up a gear and crossed the line again ten minutes later, number eight Leguizamon striding across the line from five metres out after a sharp pick-up off the back of a scrum.

Namibia barely had time to dust themselves down before Manuel Contepomi scored his side's third try, diving over in the corner to put the finishing touch to a sweeping passing move that helped the Pumas to a 25-3 lead at the break.

Felipe grabbed the vital fourth try to earn his side the bonus point when he sent the Namibian defence with a show of the ball and then sped through the gap to score under the posts.

Leguizamon hammered home the advantage seven minutes later, scoring his second when he sliced through the ragged Namibian defence and the flood gates began to open with Argentina crossing the line three more times in the next ten minutes.

Centre Gonzalo Tiesi slid across the line after scrum-half Agustin Pichot had taken a quick tap penalty and full-back Ignacio Corleto steamed over wide on the right after some quick recycling at the ruck.

The half century was brought up when Namibia conceded a penalty try just after the hour and replacement fly-half Federico Todeschini proved his fitness when he came on and scored the ninth and final try.

Scorers:   

Argentina - Tries: Rodrigo Roncero, Juan Manuel Leguizamon (2), Manuel Contepomi, Felipe Contepomi, Gonzalo Tiesi, Ignacio Corleto, Penalty, Federico Todeschini. Conversions: Felipe Contepomi (4), Federico Todeschini (2) . Penalties: Felipe Contepomi (2).

Namibia - Penalty: Morne Schreuder.   

Teams:

Argentina - 15-Ignacio Corleto (22-Federico Serra 65), 14-Hernan Senillosa, 13-Gonzalo Tiesi, 12-Manuel Contepomi, 11-Horacio Agulla, 10-Felipe Contepomi (21-Federico Todeschini 59), 9-Agustin Pichot (captain) (20-Nicolas Fernandez Miranda 56), 8-Juan Manuel Leguizamon (19-Gonzalo Longo 59), 7-Juan Fernandez Lobbe (18- Rimas Alvarez 66), 6-Lucas Ostiglia, 5-Patricio Albacete, 4-Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 3-Omar Hasan, 2-Alberto Vernet Basualdo, 1-Rodrigo Roncero (17-Martin Scelzo 66).
Replacement not used: 16-Mario Ledesma.   

Namibia - 15-Heini Bock, 14-Deon Mouton (21-Bratley Langenhoven 53), 13-Du Preez Grobler (22-Piet van Zyl 51), 12-Corne Powell (captain), 11-Melrick Africa, 10-Morne Schreuder (20-Jurie van Tonder 73), 9-Eugene Jantjies, 8-Tinus du Plessis, 7-Jacques Burger, 6-Michael MacKenzie (18-Herman Lindvelt 39), 5-Nico Esterhuize, 4-Wacca Kazombiaze (19-Heino Senekal 60), 3-Marius Visser (17-Kees Lensing 41), 2-Johannes Meyer (16-Hugo Horn 41), 1-Johnny Redelinghuys.

Referee: Stuart Dickinson (Australia).