Ruck'd - Don't Cry For The Pumas, Argentina

The International Rugby world has become a predictable place. The Big Three of The Southern Hemisphere and the original 5 Nations of Europe pretty much call all the shots. New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, England, France, Scotland, Ireland and Wales can generally walk on to a pitch against any national team not on the above list and expect an automatic win. Ok, well maybe there's an exception or two. HEHEHEHEH!

Just when France-bashing had begun to go a wee bit stale, The Argentina Pumas remind us all of why Great French Moments of Courage is a very short history book indeed. The Pumas polished the Mighty Blues of France today. The 24-14 scoreline was a result of the Pumas not putting the cane to the French as hard as they could have. Rugbyrugby.com has the vital statistics.

Man of the match: The Argentina forwards were just immense, deconstructing the same unit that bullied the Wallabies into submission last week - namely, the cultured French pack. Our award goes to that man who always managed to coerce the best out of the bid Argentines - the irrepressible Agustín Pichot, surely still one of the finest exponents of scrum-half play to have ever graced a rugby field.

Moment of the match: With France creeping back into the game, Argentina opted for two line-outs when attempts at the sticks would have been the more pragmatic approach. It's could have pure machismo, or pure masochism - but when you can out-gall the Gallic, you know the day will be yours!

Villain of the match: Despite the furious clash of forwards, it was all good, clean fun. No villains.

The scorers:

For France: Try: Marsh Pens: Elissade, Michalak 2

For Argentina: Tries: Durand, Hasan Con: Contepomi Pens: Contepomi 4

The teams:

France: 15 Nicolas Brusque, 14 Aurelien Rougerie, 13 Tony Marsh, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Cedric Heymans, 10 Frederic Michalak, 9 Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Olivier Magne, 6 Serge Betsen, 5 Jerome Thion, 4 Fabien Pelous (captain), 3 Sylvain Marconnet, 2 William Servat, 1 Olivier Milloud.

Replacements: 16 Sebastien Bruno, 17 Nicolas Mas, 18 Pascal Pape, 19 Julien Bonnaire, 20 Julien Peyrelongue, 21 Clement Poitrenaud, 22 Jimmy Marlu.

Argentina: 15 Juan Martín Hernández, 14 Lucas Borges, 13 Federico Martín Aramburu, 12 Manuel Contepomi, 11 Hernán Senillosa, 10 Felipe Contepomi, 9 Agustín Pichot (captain), 8 Gonzalo Longo, 7 Lucas Ostiglia, 6 Martín Durand, 5 Rimas Álvarez, 4 Patricio Albacete, 3 Omar Hasan, 2 Mario Ledesma, 1 Rodrigo Roncero.

Replacements: 16 Federico Méndez, 17 Daniel Rodríguez, 18 Pablo Bouza, 19 Martín Schusterman, 20 Nicolás Fernández Miranda, 21 Juan de la Cruz Fernández Miranda, 22 Gonzalo Tiesi.

Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)

So Much for the famed French Pack. So much for the superior scrum-half and fly-half. The French came out flat and took one too lightly, and The Pumas ate Les Blues for lunch.