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France edge Argentina in World Cup thriller
By Alex McLeod
France have pipped Argentina 23-21 in a thrilling Pool C encounter at Ajinomoto Stadium in Tokyo, with Pumas fullback Emiliano Boffelli missing a late penalty which would have sealed victory at the death.
Les Bleus took a healthy first half lead, taking a 20-3 lead into the half-time break through tries to Gael Fickou and Antoine Dupont and the boot of youngster Romain Ntamack, who slotted two conversions and two penalties.
However, Argentina struck back over a 30-minute period in the second half, with Guido Petti and Julian Montoya crashing over in the 43rd and 53rd minutes, respectively.
Successful kicks at goals by Nicolas Sanchez and Benjamin Urdapilleta gave the Argentines a 21-20 lead going into the final 10 minutes, but a drop goal by France's replacement flyhalf Camille Lopez in the 70th minute edged his side back in front.
Ntamack missed a late penalty to push France out to a five-point lead, and so when Pumas fullback Emiliano Boffelli lined up a 53 metre shot at goal with less than a minute to play, the result of the fixture rode on his boot.
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His kick initially looked good, but it swung away to the left just as it narrowed in on the posts, and after some sturdy defence from the ensuing 22 metre drop out, France were rewarded with a valuable victory that will pay dividends in the race for a place in the quarter-finals.
The result means Argentina will now have to beat England to stay in contention for a berth in the knockout stages, but they have a clash against Tonga in Osaka to deal with first next week.
As for France, they have rocketed to the summit of the Pool C standings, and will face the United States in Fukuoka on October 2.
France 23 (Tries to Gael Fickou, Antoine Dupont; 2 conversions, 2 penalties to Romain Ntamack, drop goal to Camille Lopez)
Argentina 21 (Tries to Guido Petti, Julian Montoya; conversion, penalty to Nicolas Sanchez, 2 penalties to Bejamin Urdapilleta)
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I guess the other option would be to start ALB, he's looked good in the 12 so far when he starts and sets up those outside him. But that would mean putting the vice captain on the bench, which is unlikely. Another option would be to drop Reiko to the bench and play Proctor, though he's gone home so that's not going to happen either.
Both of those players just offer more of the soft distribution skills good centres learn from playing their careers there. Unfortunately that's what's lacking with the current combo.
Go to commentsWhatever let's see if this load of waffle is still valid in 2 years time. ABs will rise we have a lot of new talent coming through. The NPC was the highest standard for years. The game is changing to suit the fast pace we like to play. We get to play the Springboks more, including the franchises, which will make us better! Overall I am optimistic. I will add having watched the England game multiple times we made most of the play. England are an awesome physical team, but you can expect the All Blacks to get better and better at executing the chances. It could easily have been 5 tries to one instead of 3 to 1.
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