KEY POINTS:
It will not just be the French feeling the pinch from yesterday's shock result.
International Rugby Board bosses, and their counterparts at both Sanzar and the Six Nations, will come under further pressure to include Los Pumas in one of rugby's two premier annual tournaments.
A combination of indifference and inertia has allowed Argentina, the No 6-ranked country in the world, to starve in a famine of test matches. But there's little doubt they now belong with the big boys, and captain Agustin Pichot wasted no time in reminding everyone of that fact.
"This is a great victory not only because it's the first game of the World Cup," the halfback said. "Argentina plays only five or six tests a year and the message we've sent is that Argentina exists as a rugby power. We are proud to be Argentinian.
"We need to exert pressure on the governing body [IRB] to get recognition."
Pichot, an erudite and passionate leader, is not holding his breath that those in the corridors of power will move quickly to secure the game in what could be a burgeoning region for the sport.
"I was fielding these same questions in 2003," he said. "Everyone keeps asking, 'why aren't we in one of those major competitions?' But I can't answer that."
Pichot's frustrations were echoed by their vanquished opponents.
Bernard Laporte said he was dumbfounded as to why the IRB hadn't forced either the Six Nations' or Tri Nations' hands.
"I have always been in favour of bringing Argentina into one of the two major competitions. I don't understand why they haven't got the right to play in either competition. It's a great shame."
While it would make more geographic sense to bring Argentina into Sanzar and have a Southern Hemisphere four-nations competition, there has always been the issue of player availability. Nearly all of Argentina's players play professionally in France and Italy and clubs would be reluctant to release them during their domestic season.
While that issue may be complicated, the reasons for Argentina's stunning success yesterday are not.
"We are ready to shed blood for the jersey," said Pichot. "In rugby you need to play with heart, with passion. Sometimes that is more important than technique."
After admonishing a journalist for the fact Rugby World magazine had never featured Argentina on the cover, he continued: "This time there is a lot of hunger to write history... we want to make history."
