France 12 Argentina 17
Friday, 7 September 2007by Brendan Cole
After the unseemly press coverage row between the IRB and several of the major media organisations, RWC 2007 got off to exactly the right start: Argentina, so often treated like the poor relation of the top countries, put one over on France. In doing so, they went some way towards bringing the romance back into rugby, and back into a tournament which has at times looked bloated by corporate sponsorship, obsessed with money and riven with cynicism.
They did so not in the manner of their victory - far from being champagne rugby, this encounter was as rugged, pragmatic and hard fought as any match in the history of the game - but in the emotion they showed as their anthem played at the start and in the concentrated, desperate effort they sustained for the eighty plus minutes. As so often in the past, the Pumas were the better team when it mattered.
Click here for a blow by blow match tracker from France v Argentina............
They had leaders and heroes everywhere but perhaps the most surprising thing was how they dominated the loose rather than the scrum - in which they struggled. Scrum-half and captain Agustin Pichot set the tone with a fabulous tap tackle on French fullback Cedric Heymans - the start of a rough night for a man whose usual berth is on the wing - getting France under pressure straight away.
That was the start of a phenomenal defensive effort, with other key factors being the superiority of the Argentine back row and an unbelievably poor psychological performance by France. Both their place kickers - David Skrela and, after Skrela was forced off injured, Freddy Michalak - missed inordinately simple chances. The latter's miss was compounded by the fact that Jean-Baptiste Ellisalde, Michalak's partner at Toulouse, was sitting on the bench as his clubmate struck a shocking effort yards wide. Also pertinent is that Pierre Mignoni, the starting scrum-half, was in the midst of a terrible performance. Dmitri Yachvili, another goal kicking scrum-half, was kicking his heels back in Biarritz.
For Skrela, there was no side issue to his ugly 30 handicapper slice wide from 20 yards out and directly in front of the sticks: it was just a terrible kick. Both shots were from penalties not easily bought in terms of effort from the French pack - although Michalak might failry be said to have played a large part in winning his; it came out his kick and chase. Both were also massive mental blows to France, as well as having a vital impact on the scoreboard.
For Argentina, two moments were definitive. A stunning try from Ignacio Corleto, and an amazing sustained defensive effort yards from their own line at the start of the second half.
Corleto's try got them clear. Borne out of one of out-half Juan Martin Hernandez's innumerable and often technically moderate up and unders, it was the result of opportunism from Argentina and more mental weakens from France. Having collected the kick and begun a quite promising counter-attack, the ball reached the hands of Remy Martin. Martin's ill advised pass - not the first he would make in the match - was boldly picked off: cue 180 degree momentum shift.
Argentina's constant efforts to get in the way and slap at French passes was disruptive throughout but this interception was the tactic's biggest payoff of the night. The winger Agullo grabbed the interception, shifted it to Manuel Contempomi who gave it the flying fullback Ignacio Corleto. With virtually the entire French team ahead of the ball. Corleto had steamed up on an ideal line, taking the ball at speed and running it diagonally across the pitch and all the way to the tryline.
Contepomi couldn't make the conversion kick, but three earlier efforts had Argentina 14-3 clear and looking as though they might run away with it: if one of two of Hernandez frequent drops at goal had gone over it would have been even more. The half finished well for France though - two penalties by Skrela eclipsing a sole Argentinian score, again kicked by Contepomi, this time a monster from inside his own half, and leaving the match poised at 17-9 at half time.
Cue, presumably, inquest and unrest in the French dressing room.
The half began well for them: seemingly, after the abject failure of the 'wing to wing' attacking style, the decision had been taken to win the match with mauls and fringe drives. Enter Sebastien Chabal, and exit the awful Martin, whose World Cup must surely be all but over.
It got off to a good start: France mauled the ball from their own 10 metre lines to within yards of the Argentine line. It was here, though, that the Puma pack said 'no further': an intense sequence of fringe drives ending with an Argentine penalty; as the sides ebbed down field, both seemed to sense that this might just have been the high water mark of the French effort.
The kicking failure were yet to come though: Michalak with 10 to go could have brought it back to 17-15, and Skrela might have done the same 15 minutes earlier, but both failed miserably.
The missed points ought not be the major talking points, however, Argentina were superior everywhere it mattered and might well have held on either way.
For France, they must beat Ireland to get out of the Pool. For Argentina, they will now more than likely play a quarter final at the very least. The prospect of topping Pool D - and on this effort they're almost favourites to do so - and playing Scotland or Italy for a place in a World Cup semi-final is also within touching distance.
For Ireland, meanwhile, it's a question of what better payback for Croke Park than to turf France out of their own World Cup?
