France v Argentina: Five takeaways as 'commanding' Les Bleus 'are ...

Following France’s 37-23 win over Argentina at the Stade de France in Paris, here are our five takeaways from the Autumn Nations Series Test.

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The final full-weekend of the Autumn Nations Series kicked off at one of the great rugby cathedrals, the Stade de France. The clash started off as a tight affair with Los Pumas skipper Julian Montoya perhaps unlucky to be sin-binned for a ‘croc roll’ in the third minute which he will feel was harsh.

France made the most of it through Thibaud Flament going over in the ninth minute before Thomas Ramos (2) traded penalties with Tomas Albornoz (3) before the decisive double strike that took the game away from the visitors. The first one was a well-worked effort for Gabin Villiere to go over in the 33rd minute and two minutes later Juan Martin Gonzalez was yellow-carded for slapping the ball away from Louis Bielle-Biarrey. Referee Luke Pearce correctly felt it prevented a probable try and handed the hosts a penalty try.

To Argentina’s credit, they refused to go away and grew into the game in the second period, but France were always in control, despite Thomas Gallo going over just before the hour mark. That Los Pumas hope lasted all of two minutes as Bielle-Biarrey finally got a try to his name.

Ignacio Ruiz would score in the final 10 minutes but it was mere consolation as a ruthless Les Bleus performance was fairly rewarded by that scoreline.

France are rediscovering pre-World Cup form

That heartbreaking defeat in the World Cup quarter-final to South Africa, coupled with Antoine Dupont’s sevens sabbatical, had a massive impact on French rugby, but they have finally found themselves again.

In this clash, they dominated the collision, bossed the scrum for the most part and defended rather well. Finally, that big pack is stamping its authority and Les Bleus backed up their All Blacks win with another this evening.

They have done so whilst evolving with new faces Emmanuel Meafou and Leo Barre shining especially brightly this evening. Beware, Les Bleus are back and commanding yet again.

Ruthless France punish mistake-ridden Argentina as Les Bleus complete unbeaten Autumn Nations Series campaign

Stade de France the benchmark for hosting Tests

There is constant chatter about rugby union as a spectacle and what we can improve. Well, we can start by taking lessons from how France host their Tests at the Stade de France. The iconic stadium always has a light show building intensity for both fans and players during the anthems.

It is the dramatic light shows and theatrical pre-match build-up that makes occasions like these special. Think back to the display for the haka last weekend, it is just another example of how that extra effort can go a long way. If rugby is serious about building the game as a spectacle then more arenas need to take a leaf out of France’s book.

Argentina still need to shake some old habits

In years gone by we often spoke about how discipline was the major roadblock between Argentina and being world-class. Unfortunately, this is still the case for Los Pumas, who had two yellow cards in the first half, while the side bled a load of other penalties, handing Les Bleus easy territory and possession. The damage was already done in the first period, forcing Argentina to chase the game, which led to more and more mistakes with ball in hand.

This all feeds into the narrative about Argentina being the new France – a reference to their inconsistency from one week to another. That was even evident in parts of this clash with Los Pumas having pockets of really good work which would almost inevitably be derailed by the French instinct.

Los Pumas scrum is a concern

What was once a powerful tool for the South Americans has been somewhat of a weakness with their scrum struggling for the first hour against France and it completely hampered their progress.

The penalties conceded at scrum-time gave France an easy march upfield, forcing Argentina into a position where they had to chase the game. Once France replaced their front-row Los Pumas found their groove in the set-piece and it gave them a much better handle of the game in the last quarter, but it was too little, too late.

No doubt under Felipe Contepomi this Los Pumas side has grown tremendously but, if they want their seat at the top table, they need to find solutions at scrum-time.

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