French Vs Argentina one more defeat for Frecnch rugby Marc Lievremont calls it desolation
France's national rugby side finished their international season with a very disappointing 41-13 loss to the Argentinian rugby team in Buenos Aires. For Argentina, it ends a two-game losing skid at home in which they were beaten twice by Scotland.
For France, it ends a disappointing finish to what had begun as a fantastic year with a Six Nations Cup victory in June. The French squad, carrying the banner of northern hemisphere rugby, went to South Africa, where they were clobbered 42-17.
Against the Argentinians, they were unable to counter the power and speed of their opponents. Captain Felipe Contepomi of Argentina was simply magnificent, destroying the French defence for 31 points. He scored two tries, converted three and scored on five penalty attempts. The 31 points is a career-high for Contepomi, who knew his team's backs were against the wall after their unprecedented Scottish losses. Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe and Rafael Carballo also scored tries for the Pumas, while Les Bleus only managed one try, by Julien Malzieu.
The French were only really in the game for the first 25 minutes. They tied the score at 6-6 in the 17th minute, but seemed to run out of will and energy after Contepomi put the Argentinians ahead at the 26th minute mark.
Complete Desolation
The French aren't exactly trying to put a positive spin on the loss. Coach Marc Lievremont was despondent and visibly upset after the loss, and spoke of what the second consecutive humiliating international test meant for his team.
"It's desolation," said Lièvremont. "I don't know how we could sink so badly in these few weeks, to suffer two points records in South Africa and now here in Argentina. I expected tough matches, but these defeats are ridiculous. It was a nightmare."
It's the worst result ever for a French rugby team when playing an Argentinian side. The last result that compared to this was when France lost to Argentina 34-10 at the 2007 Rugby World Cup bronze medal match.
While Argentina was playing at home, they also might have had the added bonus of being familiar with French rugby, as 10 of their starters play professional in France during the club season. But it may have also simply been fatigue which undercut the French side, as they looked to be the more tired team in face of a fresher Puma squad. Their offence was simply ineffective, while the Pumas broke their will with crushing physical play.
European future
The loss in effect is another tough blow for European rugby. The All-Blacks have been thumping European opponents when they can, recently drubbing the Irish 66-28. Italy, after an initial good showing, was also mauled by South Africa 55-10 recently.
In Europe, France's status as the best team following their Six Nations Cup victory may be gone. Scotland's two consecutive victories over Argentina now look all the more impressive, and England recently split a two-game series with the Wallabies on Aussie soil. The Irish also recently dropped a close match to Australia, 22-15.
These matches are considered to be important pre-cursors to the rugby World Cup, the largest event in the sport in the world. Next year's will be held in New Zealand, and the failure of the French team to perform doesn't bode well for their team, a point not lost on their captain, Thierry Dusautoir.
"When you concede 40 points in two successive tests, there isn't a lot to say," he said. "We can find 50 excuses, but today we came up against a team who were just much stronger than us. We were dominated in all areas and this was our level sadly today. For a team that has ambitions to be world champions next year, it's going to be difficult to pick ourselves up from this."
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