Les Bleus hold off Pumas
Morgan Parra kicked four penalties and Damien Traille landed a drop goal to help France clinch a 15-9 win over Argentina.
Last Updated: 20/11/10 10:52pm
France clinched just their third win over Argentina in the last 10 meetings of the two sides with a 15-9 triumph at Stade de la Mossin in Montpellier.
Morgan Parra kicked four penalties while Damien Traille also booted three points to help Les Bleus come out on top at the end of an error-strewn match.
The home side, who had laboured to a 34-12 win over Fiji in Nantes last weekend, dominated for long periods but proved unable to find a way through to the line.
All of Argentina's points came from the boot of Felipe Contepomi and they threatened to pull off a smash-and-grab when they pushed hard for a try in the closing stages.
Scrum-half Parra opened the scoring with a penalty in the 11th minute after Pumas counterpart Nicolas Vergallo threw a punch in a ruck.
Slender lead
Although the visitors responded with a penalty of their own from Contepomi, two more successful kicks from Parra put France 9-3 ahead at the interval.
That gap was cut to three points at the start of the second half for all of a minute - Traille responding to Contepomi's penalty with a drop goal from 30 metres out.
Both teams added further penalties around the hour mark before France were forced to survive a late scare as the clock ticked away.
Argentina, who had beaten the same opponents 41-13 in Buenos Aires in the summer, looked set to win when Gonzalo Camacho sped down the right, only for the winger to be pushed into touch.
Despite piling on the pressure that was as close as the Pumas got to repeating their two victories over Les Bleus on French soil during the last World Cup.
