Preview - France v Argentina
Pumas 80 minutes from a clean sweep of Europe
They marched on London and conquered it. Then they marched on Rome and conquered it. Now they are marching on Paris.
Don't write the Pumas off just because they are playing mighty France, ranked second in the world. Just look at recent results and you will see that the Pumas have beaten France on the last four occasions the teams have met. Admittedly there were three wins in Buenos Aires but the most recent victory was in Marseilles where the French had hoped to establish a place of invincibility.
France are certainly not coming off a period of invincibility. They were thumped by New Zealand in Lyon and, despite an improved performance, were well beaten in Paris. They must be brittle.
They threw their best available troops at the All Blacks. Now they must fling those same troops at the hard men from Argentina. They could not do otherwise as they have to find a means of restoring confidence and composure to their best men, and victory is the best way to do that.
The French will hold no terrors for the Pumas. They are unlikely to arrive in Paris in a deferential frame of mind. After all Juan Martín Hernández, Ignacio Corleto and Agustín Pichot (Stade Français), Omar Hasan, Patricio Albacete (Toulouse), Federico Todeschini and Martín Durand (Montpellier), Gonzalo Longo, Martín Scelzo and Mario Ledesma (Clermont Auvergne), and José Maria Núñez Piossek (Bayonne) all play in France while five others play in England, two in Italy and one in Ireland - and they, too, will not find Paris foreign.
The Pumas will tackle. They proved their resolve at Twickenham, but surely it will be harder against France who are unlikely to bumble and bungle the way the English did. They are, however, unlikely to find the French forwards more bruising than the English were, and they stood up to the English.
The Pumas' problem will be scoring away from the great boot of Federico Todeschini who could just be the world's most reliable goal-kicker. They have shown that they are more likely to score the opportunistic try than the structured one.
Whether France will leave unconsidered trifles to be snapped up is debatable. After all in Paris against the slick might of the All Blacks they were resilient and conceded only two tries. If the All Blacks, playing their best team, could score only two tries against France, it's hard to see the Pumas scoring even one try, which leaves their scoring potential at Todeschini's boot.
For Todeschini to score the Pumas would need to be in France's half and France would need to concede lots of penalties. In two matches against New Zealand, France conceded 15 penalties - 7,5 a match. That is not a lot. Presumably there will be less stress when they play the Pumas and so fewer penalties. The All Blacks kicked seven times at goal in their two matches. That does not suggest enough points to beat France by the boot alone.
The Pumas will get possession. At Twickenham their scrums were not a problem. England had more of a problem with them than they had with England, and of their 12 throws into line-outs they won 11 with one skew. In the contest between the best two front rows in world rugby - according to many - the scrums were a mess but France lost just one line-out in 15. Not that the New Zealand line-out is great.
All of that suggests that each team will get its own ball with the Pumas' slightly more secure.
The contest for the loose ball will be crucial. For France the crucial man could be blond and obvious Rémy Martin. He is likely to beat Martín Durand if the backs give him an chance to play. France kicked a lot against New Zealand, nearly 40 times in each match, but may well play more with the ball in hand now that the faces of Jerry Collins, Ma'a Nonu and co are no longer there to terrorise them. The Pumas kicked nearly 40 times against England. They may well repeat that against France, which will make it harder to bring their loose forwards into the game.
The Pumas are more likely to maul and do it well, but it's a long maul to the try-line.
Players to Watch:
For Argentina: Agustín Pichot was marvellous at Twickenham, alert to every possibility, leading with mind and body. He is always worth watching.
For France: One may well want to watch fullback Pépito Elhorga who has courage and a spirit of adventure. He was on the brink of having a great game against New Zealand. And will Damian Traille be as stodgy at flyhalf as he has been?
Head to Head: Two old heads - Raphaël Ibañez (France) against Mario Ledesma (Argentina). They are both sturdy hookers, similar in their all their activities, including getting stuck in in the tight-loose.. That could be an important contest. Elvis Vermeulen (France) against Gonzalo Longo (Argentina) - both ball carriers, Vermeulen more energetic, Longo stronger. Yannick Jauzion, who may well be characterised as disappointing of late, against Felipe Contepomi of Argentina, such a clever player in a position requiring brains and physical courage.
Prediction: The Pumas have enjoyed a run of six victories over Six Nations teams - Scotland, Italy (2), Wales (2) and England during the last 18 months. Despite this, their great victory at Twickenham and the results over the last few years in matches with France, France may just celebrate their centenary of Test rugby by winning this one by more than five points.
Recent results:
2004: Argentina won 24-14 in Marseilles
2003: Argentina won 33-32 in Buenos Aires
2003: Argentina won 10-6 in Buenos Aires
2002: Argentina won 28-27 in Buenos Aires
1999: France won 47-26 in Dublin
1998: France won 34-14 in Nantes
1998: France won 37-12 in Buenos Aires
1998: France won 35-18 in Buenos Aires
1997: France won 32-27 in Tarbes
1996: France won 34-15 in Buenos Aires
1996: France won 34-27 in Buenos Aires
1995: France won 47-12 in Buenos Aires
1992: Argentina won 24-20 in Nantes
1992: France won 33-9 in Buenos Aires
1992: France won 27-12 in Buenos Aires
1988: France won 28-18 in Lille
1988: France won 29-9 in Nantes
1988: Argentina won 18-6 in Buenos Aires
1988: France won 18-15 in Buenos Aires
1986: France won 22-9 in Buenos Aires
1986: Argentina won 15-13 in Buenos Aires
1985: France won 23-15 in Buenos Aires
1985: Argentina won 24-16 in Buenos Aires
1982: France won 13-6 in Paris
1982: France won 25-12 in Toulouse
Teams:
France: 15 Pépito Elhorga, 14 Cédric Heymans, Christophe Dominici, 13 Florian Fritz, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Christophe Dominici, 10 Damien Traille, 9 Dimitri Yachvili, 8 Elvis Vermeulen, 7 Rémy Martín, 6 Julien Bonnaire, 5 Pascal Papé, 4 Lionel Nallet, 3 Pieter de Villiers, 2 Raphaël Ibañez (captain), 1 Olivier Milloud.
Replacements: 16 Dimitri Szarzewski, 17 Sylvain Marconnet, 18 Loïc Jacquet, 19 Serge Betsen, 20 Pierre Mignoni, 21 David Marty, 22 Aurélien Rougerie.
Argentina: 15 Juan Martín Hernández, 14 José Maria Núñez Piossek, 13 Manuel Contepomi, 12 Felipe Contepomi, 11 Ignacio Corleto, 10 Federico Todeschini, 9 Agustín Pichot (captain), 8 Gonzalo Longo, 7 Juan Fernández Lobbe, 6 Martín Durand, 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Ignacio Fernández Lobbe, 3 Omar Hasan, 2 Mario Ledesma, 1 Martín Scelzo.
Replacements: 16 Alberto Vernet Basualdo, 17 Marcos Ayerza, 18 Esteban Lozada, 19 Juan Manuel Leguizamón, 20 Nicolás Fernández Miranda, 21 Hernán Senillosa, 22 Horacio Agulla.
Date: Saturday, November 25
Venue: Stade de France, Paris
Kick-off: 15:00 (14:00 GMT)
Expected weather conditions: Overcast with a 30 per cent chance of rain, a high of 16°C, dropping to 9°C, and a southwester reaching 28 km/h.
Referee: Tony Spreadbury (England)
Touch judges: Wayne Barnes (England), Carlo Damasco (Italy)
Television match official: David McHugh (Ireland)
Assessor: Dougie Kerr (Scotland)
By Paul Dobson