France too strong for Argentina in Paris

Argentina were defeated 29-20 by France in Paris on Saturday. Though the two sides scored two tries each, 19 points from the boot of fullback Melvin Jaminet proved the difference as Les Bleus celebrated the return of fans to the Stade de France.

Jaminet’s first penalty goal came just two minutes into the match and he would add a second before disaster struck for France. Emiliano Boffelli missed a penalty attempt but Matthieu Jalibert’s 22-meter drop-out was charged down by Pablo Matera. When the flanker was hauled down by Jalibert just short Tomás Cubelli was on hand to finish off from a meter away. Boffelli’s routine conversion put Los Pumas into the lead for the first time.

Tempers flared between the two forward packs and the referee grew tired of the antics, soon ordering both Marcos Kremer and Julien Marchand to the sidelines for a 10-minute cooldown. Jaminet landed his third penalty goal but then uncharacteristically was off target on another opportunity from straight in front to leave the score 9-7 to the home side at halftime.

Boffelli put Argentina back ahead by one with a successful three points off the tee but the lead would not hold as France struck back immediately. A knock-on at the restart handed possession back to Les Bleus, and Thibaud Flament sprinted clean through a gap in the defensive line to slide over for a try on debut.

Jaminet was on target with the conversion, and then after Boffelli closed the gap with a penalty kick it was the French fullback again who tacked on his fourth penalty. France pulled away further soon after when replacement hooker Peato Mauvaka burst onto a Jaminet offload to score a try, much to the delight of the Parisian faithful.

A late try from Mateo Carreras made for an interesting finish. Nicolás Sánchez fired up a speculative up-and-under and Boffelli rose highest, knocking the ball side sideways to Carreras with no defense left to stop him. Sánchez landed the conversion quickly to keep nearly three minutes left on the clock, but it was to no avail as Les Bleus would have the final say. Appropriately it was Jaminet again who did the honors with his fifth penalty to goal to bring on full-time.

Los Pumas continue their European tour in Italy next Saturday as they face the Azzurri in Treviso. France host Georgia in Bordeaux next Sunday.

 

SCORING

FRANCE 29
Tries – T. Flament (49’), P. Mauvaka (70’)
Cons – M. Jaminet 2/2 (50’, 71’)
Pens – M. Jaminet 5/6 (2’, 18’, 34’, 65’, 80’)
DGs – M. Jaminet 0/1
YC – J. Marchand (27’)

ARGENTINA 20
Tries – T. Cubelli (22’), M. Carreras (77’)
Cons – E. Boffelli 1/1 (23’), N. Sánchez 1/1 (77’)
Pens – E. Boffelli 2/3 (48’, 60’)
YC – M. Kremer (27’)

 

TEAMS

FRANCE
1 Cyril Baille (17 Jean-Baptiste Gros 63’), 2 Julien Marchand (16 Peato Mauvaka 63’), 3 Mohamed Haouas (18 Demba Bamba 52’), 4 Thibaud Flament (21 Sekou Macalou 69’), 5 Paul Willemse (19 Romain Taofifenua 52’), 6 François Cros (16 Peato Mauvaka 28’-39’) (20 Grégory Alldritt 57’), 7 Anthony Jelonch, 8 Cameron Woki, 9 Antoine Dupont (capt.), 10 Mathieu Jalibert, 11 Gabin Villière, 12 Romain Ntamack (23 Jonathan Danty 54’), 13 Gaël Fickou, 14 Damian Penaud, 15 Melvyn Jaminet

Not used: 22 Maxime Lucu

ARGENTINA
1 Thomas Gallo (17 Rodrigo Martínez 68’), 2 Julián Montoya (capt.) (16 Facundo Bosch 68’), 3 Francisco Goméz Kodela (18 Santiago Medrano 55’), 4 Guido Petti (20 Juan Martín González 63’), 5 Tomás Lavanini (19 Lucas Paulos 73’), 6 Pablo Matera (20 Juan Martín González 17’-19’), 7 Marcos Kremer, 8 Facundo Isa, 9 Tomás Cubelli (21 Gonzalo Bertranou 77’), 10 Santiago Carreras (23 Lucio Cinti 75’), 11 Mateo Carreras, 12 Jerónimo de la Fuente, 13 Matías Moroni, 14 Bautista Delguy (22 Nicolás Sánchez 63’), 15 Emiliano Boffelli

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand)
Assistants: Luke Pearce (England) & Christophe Ridley (England)
TMO: Brendon Pickerill (New Zealand)