France Fires on all Cylinders against Argentina

France fired on all cylinders at the Stade de France on Friday. Les Bleus gave the crowd of 66,640 plenty to cheer about as they defeated Argentina 37-23. The convincing win came with referee Luke Pearce yellow carding two Pumas forwards in the opening half.

France’s dream start had the home side up 30-9. Argentina had reason to feel frustrated as both calls from Pearce came after TMO involvement with Pearce’s judgement asking questions of partiality. On both occasions, France scored tries as a result of the yellow cards.

Argentine captain Julián Montoya was yellow carded on four minutes for a ruck clearance. Montoya appeared bemused as Pearce said he cleared a player by the limb. The decision marked two weeks in-a-row of TMO intervention costing Argentina early. Matías Moroni’s try was canceled and he was yellow carded for a 2nd minute clearance against Ireland.

As was the case without Moroni against Ireland, Les Bleus made the 14-men Pumas pay. After Thomas Ramos won France a 50/22 lineout, France scored from the second phase. Thibaud Flament crashed over, bumping off Moroni to score. Ramos converted for a 7-0 lead on 10 minutes.

Los Pumas looked to strike back through Joaquín Oviedo. The Perpignan N8 was held up inside the French try zone. Argentina’s next opportunity saw points with Tomás Albornoz landing his first of three penalties of the half.

Ramos made it 10-3 on 16 minutes. Not long after Montoya returned from his yellow card, the Argentine skipper was penalized for completing a jackal. Pearce adjudged Montoya to have made contact with the ground first. Albornoz responded with a penalty to close out the opening quarter.

France’s kick-off went out on the full. The resulting scrum saw Pearce penalizing Joel Sclavi for collapsing. Ramos made it 13-6 with a long-range penalty.

Pablo Matera won a jackal penalty for his country on 26 minutes. He was forced off for an HIA check following contact from Australian Emmanuel Meafou. Albornoz made it 13-9.

France had more first-half opportunities than Argentina and Los Pumas’ decision making was not ideal. A lousy return kick from Juan Cruz Mallía gifted France a second 50/22 lineout of the first-half. France gained ground inside the 22 and scored on 32 minutes. Léo Barré offloaded in contact to Gabin Villière who scored.

20-9 became 27-9 with Juan Martín González conceding a yellow card and Argentina a penalty try. Assistant referee Andrea Piardi told Pearce the ball had gone back from González’ hand. The replays confirmed this; however, Pearce went for his pocket.

The half ended with Ramos landing a penalty. The half-time margin of +21 had France in total control but Argentina looked to bounce back. Gonzalo García turned over Antoine Dupont on two occasions in the match. The second led to a break for González with phases getting Argentina 70 meters upfield before Moroni knocked-on.

Los Pumas went close to scoring following a scrum. The forwards claimed a try but it was not checked by the TMO. The next wave of attack was different. Thomas Gallo powered over from a pick-and-go.

The hard-work was quickly undone as Lautaro Bazán Vélez replaced García and immediately had a box-kick charged down. Speedy merchant Louis Bielle-Biarrey chased kick through to score. With the conversion France were back to a 21 point lead.

Argentina’s scrum again won a penalty and Los Pumas turned it into points. Waves of raids culminated with Ignacio Ruiz scoring from close range. Two more tries were needed to level the scoring and Argentina threatened with Santiago Carreras and Mateo Carreras both made multiple breaks. Ultimately, Argentina came up short.

The full-time whistle ends 2024 for both Argentina and France. Attention now turns to the club season which runs until mid-2025. Los Pumas face the British & Irish Lions in June and take-on England and Chile in South America in July. France play the Six Nations in February and March and tour New Zealand in July.

 

SCORING

FRANCE (37)
Try (4) – T Flament (8′); G Villiere (32′); Penalty Try (36′); L Bielle-Biarrey (57′)
Con (4) – T Ramos (9′, 33′, 58′); No Kick (36′)
Pen (3) – T Ramos (16′, 23′, 40′)

ARGENTINA (23)
Try (2) – T Gallo (55′); I Ruiz (69′)
Con (2) – T Albornoz (56′, 70′);
Pen (3) – T Albornoz (15′, 20′, 26′)
YC (2) – J Montoya (4′); JM González (36′)

 

LINE-UPS

FRANCE
1 Jean-Baptiste Gros, 2 Peato Mauvaka, 3 Uini Atonio, 4 Thibaud Flament, 5 Emmanuel Meafou, 6 Francois Cros, 7 Paul Boudehent, 8 Charles Ollivon, 9 Antoine Dupont, 10 Thomas Ramos, 11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 12 Yoram Moefana, 13 Gael Fickou, 14 Gabin Villière, 15 Léo Barré

Replacements: 16 Julien Marchand, 17 Reda Wardi, 18 Georges-Henri Colombe, 19 Alexandre Roumat, 20 Mickael Guillard, 21 Marko Gazzotti, 22 Nolann Le Garrec, 23 Emilen Gailleton

ARGENTINA
1 Thomas Gallo, 2 Julián Montoya (capt.), 3 Joel Sclavi, 4 Guido Petti, 5 Pedro Rubiolo, 6 Pablo Matera (vice-capt), 7 Juan Martín González, 8 Joaquín Oviedo, 9 Gonzalo Garcia, 10 Tomás Albornoz, 11 Bautista Delguy, 12 Matías Moroni 13 Lucio Cinti, 14 Rodrigo Isgró, 15 Juan Cruz Mallía (vice-capt.)

Replacements: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Ignacio Calles, 18 Francisco Gómez Kodela, 19 Franco Molina, 20 Marcos Kremer, 21 Lautaro Bazán Vélez, 22 Santiago Carreras, 23 Mateo Carreras

 

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Luke Pearce (England)
Assistant Referees: Andrea Piardi (Italy); Morné Ferreira (South Africa)
TMO: Ian Tempest (England)
Bunker: Olly Hodges (Ireland)