Sports After Dark

The World Cup got under way in front of a vocal sell-out crowd at Stad de France in Saint Denis where the host nation France took on Argentina. In a shocking upset Los Pumas dominated a flat and idealess French side and won 17-12.

The hosts looked very nervous in the opening exchanges, rushing their play at times while taking too much time at others. Argentina played a simple game plan, keeping the ball tight in the forwards and putting in a number of high kicks which the French did not handle well all game.

France’s forward pack was on the back foot for most of the game and struggled to give their back line any ball going forward. When the backs did get the ball, they squandered their chances with poor handling and awful options.

The visitors showed their intentions early on attempting two drop goals inside the first three minutes, however both missed. The scoring was eventually opened in the fifth minute by Filipe Contepomi with a penalty goal which was answered by his French opposite David Skrela two minutes later.

As the teams settled into their work it was Argentina who achieved the upper hand, partly through their game plan and partly due to a number of poor options by France. Contepomi kept the scoreboard ticking over with penalties in the tenth and 24th minutes as his team enjoyed a two to one territory advantage.

The opening try of the World Cup came at the 27 minute mark as France made a telling break in mid field, only to see the ball intercepted by Argentinean winger Lucas Borges and run in for the score by fullback Ignacio Corleto. Conceding the try sparked the home side into action and they enjoyed their own period of dominance, closing the gap via another Skrela penalty goal.

The half came to a close with Contepomi and Skrela exchanging penalties and Argentina went into the break up by 17-9, silencing the massive home crowd who, like the players, were sensing an upset.

The second half began as the first half ended, with neither side able to gain the ascendency and the match becoming something of a stalemate. France were able to create some chances however both Skrela and his replacement Frederic Michalak missed simple penalty attempts, although Skrela did land a penalty goal in the 60th minute.

As time ticked away the French side began to panic, trying to attack from all corners of the park and taking more and more bad options on attack. Argentina tired noticeably late in the game, but were able to dig deep and defend heroically and, despite Filipe Contepomi missing two late penalties, hang on for a famous win.

This victory sends Argentina to the top of Group D and gives them a good chance of moving through to the knock-out phase, while France must now beat Ireland on September 21 to have any chance of making the quarter finals.

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The Argentina stun bumbling hosts in World Cup boil over by Hamish McBrearty, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.