Sport

Pumas punish France

Argentina... 28 France..

Mon Jun 17 2002 - 01:00

Argentina ... 28 France ... 27 Argentina stunned the rugby world with a 28-27 win over Six Nations champions France on Saturday in a one-off Test match in which the hosts blitzed Les Bleus with three second-half tries.

Argentina drew first blood in the 13th minute with a Felipe Contepomi penalty, and again five minutes later. The tourists pulled level with two Gerald Merceron penalties in the final 10 minutes of the half in a match lacking in shape.

But the home side quickly snatched the lead in the second half with a Gonzalo Quesada drop-goal from 40 metres out, after he had replaced skipper Lisandro Arbizu at half-time.

The French struck back with an Nicolas Brusque try after a darting break by outside centre Tony Marsh opened up a huge hole in the Argentine defence. Los Pumas, 13-9 down, then pinned the French back in their own 22 and Federico Mendez powered over the line.

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Then came the turn of right wing Gonzalo Camardon who raced round the French three-quarters, leaving his opposite man for dead, and stunning the French in a solo effort.

Having missed the conversion, Contepomi then intercepted a sloppy French pass in midfield and glided over the tourists' try line, taking the score to 26-13.

Winger Nicolas Jeanjean struck back for France with five minutes to go, taking the score to 28-20. The final try came with two minutes left in the clash with Marsh crossing the line. Merceron buckled under the pressure as he failed with a last-minute penalty.

ARGENTINA: I Corleto; G Camardon, J Orengo, L Arbizu (capt), D Albanese; F Contepomi, A Pichot; M Reggiardo, F Mendez, O Hasan, Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, R Alvarez, S Phelan, R Martin, G Longo. Replacements: M Ledesma for Mendez (30 mins); R Grau for Regiardo (30 mins); M Durand for Phelan (38 mins); G Quesada for Arbizu (40 mins).

FRANCE: N Brusque; A Rougerie, T Marsh, D Traille, N Jeanjean; G Merceron, P Mignoni; R Ibanez (capt), J Poux, F Pelous, O Brouzet, S Betsen, O Magne, C Labit. Replacements: S Chabal for Labit (26 mins); C Porcu for Brouzet (26 mins); S Marconnet for Poux (35 mins); O Azam for Chabal (80 mins).