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France put away Argentina after 'tough' first half says Dupont
By AAP
Second-half tries by debutant lock Thibaud Flament and hooker Peato Mauvaka and superb goalkicking by Melvyn Jaminet have helped France to a 29-20 victory over a battling Argentina in an intense rugby Test at Stade de France.
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Flament was playing flyhalf in the fifth team of England’s Loughborough University five years ago but he was the toast of Paris after he broke through a determined Pumas defence early in the second half on Saturday.
Argentina were leading 10-9 at the time after a first-half Tomas Cubelli try but Flament’s score was followed by a second try for Mauvaka to put the hosts clear.
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Argentina showed terrific spirit to launch a series of attacks in the last 10 minutes and closed the gap with a Mateo Carreras try but France had the last word with Jaminet’s fifth penalty.
“The balance is positive but we struggled to keep the ball and they made it tough in the first half,” said captain Antoine Dupont.
“Once we managed that we put them in difficulty, but there’s room for improvement.”
France had the best of the opening quarter and led 6-0 after two penalties from classy fullback Jaminet but Argentina hit back with a try out of the blue after 22 minutes.
Emiliano Boffelli missed a penalty attempt but Pablo Matera charged down Matthieu Jalibert’s subsequent 22 drop out and, after he was hauled down just short, Cubelli scooped up the ball to score under the posts, with Boffelli converting for a 7-6 lead.
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Jaminet France edged 9-7 ahead with his third penalty but then missed a relatively easy fourth just before the break – only his second miss from 20 attempts in his fledgling international career.
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France had hoped to find some creative spark by playing Romain Ntamack as a second distributor outside Jalibert but it was the Puma backline that started to click, earning a penalty that Bofelli landed to restore his side’s lead.
It lasted only a couple of minutes however, as lock Flament, who had an excellent all-round debut, ran onto a Jalibert pass to send the home fans wild.
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Argentina defended desperately and were rewarded with another Bofelli penalty to bring them back to 16-13 down midway through the half.
However, France’s replacements brought more intensity and a mighty shove splintered an Argentina scrum to earn another penalty for Jaminet for a 19-13 lead.
France’s relentless pressure eventually told again as Jalibert popped a pass off the ground to rampaging replacement hooker Mauvaka for their second try.
France were forced into some impressive defending in the last 15 minutes and though Carreras scored late on and another try was ruled “held up”, Jaminet’s fifth penalty glossed a deserved win.
France next face Georgia ahead of their showdown with New Zealand, while Argentina, who have now lost seven in a row after their clean sweep of defeats in the Rugby Championship, play Italy.
