Another: Louis Picamoles
France followed up last weekend's drubbing of Australia with another convincing display as they beat Argentina 39-22 in Lille on Saturday.
With England, Wales, Scotland and Italy losing to southern opposition this weekend - Ireland were playing in a non-cap international - the French confirmed their status as the top European team in the world rankings.
France led 24-13 at the end of an action-packed first-half that saw the momentum and the lead swing back and forth.
Argentina were 13-3 head after 15 minutes but two Vincent Clerc tries in the space of two minutes handed the initiative back to the hosts, who went into the interval with their tails up after Yannick Nyanga added a third try just before the break.
The second period proved much tighter with Fred Michalak's boot securing the win.
France showed their intentions to get the ball wide at pace early on and Michalak could have opened the scoring from the kicking tee when the Pumas were caught offside.
But the visitors were first to cross the whitewash after a brilliant break in midfield that saw Nicolas Sanchez and Gonzalo Tiesi switch the angle of attack twice before putting Marcelo Bosch away to score under the posts.
Sanchez added two more penalties to stretch the lead to ten points and the Pumas were looking dangerous as they regularly broke up the centre of the field, just like they did against Wales a week ago.
Les Bleus would have the better of the second quarter though with Louis Picamoles once again at the heart of their forward momentum. The big number eight and Pascal Papé combined to send Maxime Machenaud down the touchline, the scrum-half threw a wild pass inside but Clerc could pick it up to score.
Moments later Florian Fritz's neat chip ahead sat up perfectly for the racing Clerc and the wing could sprint home.
Off the back of a French maul, Nyanga handed off two defenders before using his pace to bolt home for a brilliant solo try and give the hosts an 11-point lead at half time.
The second half was more of a dog fight as Sanchez and Michalak traded penalties and drop-goals to leave the status quo with 15 minutes left.
The French fly-half broke the pattern in the dying minutes however as the Pumas ran out of steam, adding two more penalties to secure the win.
Man of the match: Plenty of candidates with the French back-row looking particularly good. We'll go for Yannick Nyanga whose blistering pace earned him a try, but he put in plenty of hard graft too.
Moment of the match: France never looked back after Clerc's second try.
Villain of the match: A few handbags emerged, but nothing too rough.
The scorers:
For France:
Tries: Clerc 2, Nyanga
Cons: Michalak 3
Pens: Michalak 5
Drop: Michalak
For Argentina:
Try: Bosch
Con: Sanchez
Pens: Sanchez 4
Drop: Sanchez
France: 15 Brice Dulin, 14 Wesley Fofana, 13 Florian Fritz , 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Vincent Clerc, 10 Frederic Michalak, 9 Maxime Machenaud, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 6 Yannick Nyanga, 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Pascal Papé (c), 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Yannick Forestier.
Replacements: 16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Thomas Domingo, 18 Vincent Debaty, 19 Jocelino Suta, 20 Damien Chouly, 21 Morgan Parra, 22 Francois Trinh-Duc, 23 Yoann Huget.
Argentina: 15 Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino, 14 Horacio Agulla, 13 Gonzalo Tiesi, 12 Marcelo Bosch, 11 Juan Imhoff, 10 Nicolas Sanchez, 9 Martin Landajo, 8 Leonardo Senatore, 7 Juan Manuel Leguizamon, 6 Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe, 5 Julio Farias Cabello, 4 Manuel Carizza, 3 Juan Figallo, 2 Eusebio Guinazu, 1 Marcos Ayerza.
Replacements: 16 Agustin Creevy, 17 Nahuel Lobo, 18 Francisco Gomez Kodela, 19 Tomas Vallejos, 20 Tomas De la Vega, 21 Tomas Cubelli, 22 Gonzalo Camacho, 23 Joaquin Tuculet.
Venue: Stade Lille Metropole
Referee: Steve Walsh (Australia)
Assistant referees: Jaco Peyper (South Africa), David Changleng (Scotland)
Television match official: Carlo Damasco (Italy)
Comments
SACanuck says...
Great game. France two convincing wins in a row. That is not nomal, but if they keep playing like they have in the past two weeks, then look out SH teams
Posted 23:25 17th November 2012
philipjfry says...
Only watched the first half (the Killing started again on BBC4) and it was a proper antidote to the poison of the Scotland v Springbok game.
Posted 23:23 17th November 2012
mlbp says...
The battle of the back rows was won by France (thanks to their mobility and the French game plan of moving the ball wide and punching hard once they disorganized the defence) when I thought that Argentina would have the upper hand. I could see that the Argentines were a bit over worked at times and maybe tired after so many international matches. Some of the players remained anonymous (Imhoff, Senatore, Carizza...), though their start of the match was excellent. As their stamina wore out France was able to keep things going their way.
I suppose some of us predicted a dour match full of gristle up front and with such a soft turf and the rain you would have thought the game was going to be a clash of forwards with the backs tackling them when they broke loose, but it was the opposite. The first scrum was two minutes from half-time, something never seen before in a match between the French and the Pumas.
Argentina will learn a lot from these matches, though. Their future is bright, many of the players are young and they have great talent. Their commitment in defence is a marvel to behold.
Ireland will have to fight to the death to beat Argentina. I really can't see the Pumas losing against them. Will Albacete be available? He's an inspirational player and he was sorely missed against France. His clash with the Irish locks can be a classic.
We have to thank both France and Argentina for such a fantastic match. France may be back to their winning ways, and in style! They look like the in-form NH team at the moment.
Samoa will be another test of character. I wonder what PSA will do. Will he rotate the players and start testing new combinations? Samoa is a tough team and they must be on cloud nine after their win against Wales.
Toulousain, Gauca, Lacroix, Rosbif, I await your wise comments. Thanks to all contributors for teaching me so much about rugby.
Posted 23:13 17th November 2012
buba says...
There were two matches in one. We give away 21 poinst in 15 minutes. Match over.
While we are still trying to do a more expansive sort of game, we are short of consistency. Line out didn?t work like in previous matches, and there where some silly distractions and penalties. It?s great to see that Phelan is trying new players at this evel, expanding the base.
Posted 22:57 17th November 2012
mlbp says...
Great win for France. They didn't crack under pressure after the first minutes of Argentinian domination on the scoreboard. Former French teams would have started to make silly mistakes and give away stupid penalties. This was a test of character and they passed it.
Any news on the Agulla injury? It certainly looked ugly. He lost control of his body after his hit with Mermoz. He looked like a puppet on his way down to the ground.
I always wonder what it is with coaches that they have to bring on all the subs during a game. Parra played well but was it necessary to substitute Machenaud? The same happened in the Italy game. It looks as if coaches have a plan no matter what goes on during the match. At a certain moment subs have to start coming onto the pitch in an endless carousel that stops momentum and in many cases has no impact. That's sad and dangerous for many players who've been giving their all for 70+ minutes and they have to come against fresh bodies eager to destroy. Something must be done about this. I wrote about it several times on these forums.
Back to the match: Nyanga must be the fastest player from nought to sixty... Such acceleration is a blessing for any team. Michalak was majestic, Machenaud speeds things up more than any other 9 I've seen playing for France, Mermoz missed a couple of tackles early but later he was excellent, Picamoles must be the player with best balance in the world (nobody can bring him down, though his choice in underwear deserves the villain-of-the-match award), the front rows played really well, but it is all a bit of a travesty, as they don't play full matches any more, Suta is a gem, Ouedraogo was excellent in the line outs and his last charge two minutes from the end of the match was unbelievable. Hats off to Clerc. Fritz is a monster in defence but the wingers outside him rarely see the ball. Dulin deserves a mention too!
Posted 22:57 17th November 2012
GCP_JONES says...
Yannick Nyanga Louis Picamoles CLASS
Posted 22:33 17th November 2012
KnockOnKing says...
God I hope Agulla is not seriously injured. Some key fumbles by LP when they
were countering. Les Blues are impressive especially physically. Ouedraogo their
7 was amazing in the line outs.LP´s set pieces will have to be worked on before
the match with Ireland.
Posted 22:24 17th November 2012
LondonWasp says...
hmmmmm..
french grandslam in the upcoming 6nations anyone?.....
Posted 22:23 17th November 2012
miladiou says...
No villians!!! you are joking. The flying headbut by an Argentinian (think it was Figallo) into Pascale Pape face at the end of the first half was filthy. He has v deep cuts to his face as a result. Worth a citing and long ban.
Posted 22:23 17th November 2012
side_stepper says...
Picamoles, pure class. In form No 8 atm (with Read of course)
Posted 22:20 17th November 2012
lacroix says...
fabulous game. of course i'm biased...but still
Posted 22:09 17th November 2012
froggy73 says...
First, congratulations to the Argentines. They came in Paris looking for a win and they were very impressive. The first half was epic, I would rate as no less than on my top five of all time. The quality was superb, immense pace from both teams, only 1 scrummage in the first half !!! Never seen that before. Pace on second half dropped but that was no surprise.
France manage to play almost as well as they did last week, which is mainly what I was looking for. Let's keep focused and serious to make it 3/3 next week.
Allez les Bleus
Posted 22:04 17th November 2012