France 12 Argentina 17
KEY POINTS:
The sixth Coupe du Monde kicked off in Paris yesterday - 80 minutes later, the rugby world had tilted off its axis.
Argentina's boil-over victory has knocked the hosts' confidence to the core and has fascinating ramifications for the rest of the tournament.
Not least is the fact that France now look distinct possibilities to finish second in Pool D, a scenario that would almost certainly see them pitted against the All Blacks in a quarter-final in Cardiff.
On close inspection, that prospect will not frighten Graham Henry too much. Not only have the All Blacks smashed the French mercilessly in their meetings under Henry but France's one inherent advantage, the emotion of the home crowd, will be taken out of play in the Welsh capital.
If they lose to Ireland in two weeks, they will endure the ignominy of watching on television the rest of the tournament they are hosting.
"We've lost tonight but we've still got some cards up our sleeves," said France coach Bernard Laporte.
He'd better hope they're aces because, despite a 70-30 per cent possession count in the second half, they could not turn a trick yesterday.
They were utterly dominant in the set-piece but Argentina showed more hunger for the ball on the ground. It was at the breakdown that Argentina won this match - as both sets of backs, bar one magical Argentinian moment, had a night to forget.
France had no gap runners, while the best Argentina could do was seven failed drop goal attempts and a multitude of up-and-unders.
"It was an aerial strategy," victorious captain Agustin Pichot said. "It's boring but we love it. We'll do it again if it helps us win."
Such is the evenness of the top three teams in this pool, there is still a chance France could finish top.
The match perfectly illustrated the ludicrous situation where three of the world's top six teams reside in pool D, while only New Zealand (No 1) sit inside the top eight in pool C.
For the second World Cup in succession, Argentina were handed the poisoned chalice of an opening fixture against the hosts.
Argentina coach Marcelo Loffreda made reference to the night in Sydney four years ago. His side barely fired a shot in that game.
"We should look at that Australian match," he said. "The lessons learned from that made us improve."
The difference is that this time they were the better side in every way except, maybe, at scrum time. Whereas in 2003 they were, according to Pichot, a relatively dispirited bunch, here they look cohesive and disciplined.
What they so obviously lack is an attacking thrust in the backs. They can threaten from clever kicks and will ruck and maul with the best of them but they will rarely beat you with clever work with the hands.
But here's the funny thing: Argentina didn't win where they were expected. The famed 'bajada', or eight-man push in the scrum, has largely been left to antiquity. At one stage, they were pushed off their own ball by the French.
Los Pumas' lineout wobbled more than once and the French also found the rolling maul to be an effective mode of attack against them.
Where they won was an absolute commitment to the loose ball.
Time and again in the first half, France appeared to have secured possession only for an Argentine forward to emerge with the ball.
But France's problems don't end with the loose trio. They started David Skrela at first five-eighths ahead of one of the stars of 2003 (Frederic Michalak) in a clear indication Laporte was looking for stability in the pivot rather than occasional fits of brilliance. He ended up with neither.
With poor service from the insides, the likes of Yannick Jauzion and Aurelien Rougerie were near redundant for the French.
Skrela's opposite, Juan Martin Hernandez, had an interesting night. He looked as if he desperately wanted to be the answer to the future pub quiz question 'Who was the first points scorer at the sixth World Cup?'
He launched two speculative and rather lame drop goals before watching his outside Felipe Contepomi steal the honour with a nicely struck penalty.
Argentina already led by three penalties to Skrela's one when the only try of the first half stretched the margin.
To say it appeared out of nowhere would be misleading but it certainly wasn't forged out of any training-ground routine.
Not unless that training encompassed a wayward bomb falling into the arms of Damien Traille.
The France inside centre looked certain to put his outsides in for a five-pointer but Argentine wing Horacio Agullo came up with an intercept that resulted in a quick change of hands and fullback Ignacio Corleto outsprinting the cover.
It was hard to imagine at that point that the game's decisive moment had occurred but apart from a brief spell attacking Los Pumas' tryline midway through the second half, France never looked likely to bridge the gap.
In fact, Contepomi twice had the chance to put the result beyond doubt but fluffed his kicks.
That pretty much sums up how bad France were: Argentina missed 10 attempts at goal through either drop or place kicks, yet still won.
France (D. Skrela 4 pens), Argentina (I. Corleto try; F. Contepomi 4 pens). HT: 9-17.
