They were the underdogs, but the French knew how dangerous the Pumas could be. It's been not an easy task for Les Bleus to beat Argentina lately and the pressure of being favourites and playing at home, proved to be too much for them.
Argentina played a great first half, with the highlight being Ignacio CORLETO's try, and then hung on for dear life in the second to win 17-12 and to hand France their first ever defeat in the group stage of a Rugby World Cup.
This is also the first time France have been defeated by a team outside the Tri-Nations (New Zealand, South Africa and Australia) and England and the first time Los Pumas won their opening match (after losing to Fiji in 1987, Australia 1991 and 2003, England in 1995 and Wales in 1999).
Los Pumas are in control of their own destiny and if they beat Georgia and Namibia (they should) and then they defeat Ireland (they could), then the miracle of avoiding the All Blacks in the quarterfinals will be possible and their adventure in the World Cup could continue as far as to the semifinals (with a probable face-off against Italy or Scotland in the quarterfinals).
But now is not the time to talk about that. Now's the time to enjoy the moment, grab a baguette, some cheese and the best red wine and celebrate!
Allez Los Pumas!
(Check out some pictures of the celebrations at the Stade de France: http://www.lanacion.com.ar/Varios/GaleriaImagenes/GaleriaImagenes.asp?nota_id=941899&publicacion_id=17182)
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21 comments:
What a great game it was and till now I just can't believe it what I've witness. Something was telling me that a miracle was about to happen as I watching the game.
The try came at the right place and the right time just as when the Les Blues were seem of getting themselves back into the game.
LOFREDA got it everything right when he had to make some adjustment to the team after Federico TODESCHINI fitness problem.
And Felipe CONTEPOMI great accuracy of kicking will give the likes of Johnny WILKINSON and Dan CARTER a run for their money.
But lets not get too complacent, because first thing lets beat Georgia and Namibia before we worry about the Irish.
ARGENTINA I LOVE YOU!!!!
That was so brilliant. I'm still in a daze. I'll admit that I expected us to lose, I was preparing myself for it. Instead we won! And we played so well!! Corleto's try was beautiful, absolutely gorgeous. The team was brilliant and the defense at the end was excellent. We deserved the victory, even my French friends agree (though they are currently not speaking to me). Wow, so good. I can't say anything more.
Vamos Pumas!!! VAMOS ARGENTINA!!!!!
-argentinafan
it was so beautful to watch and as im in a rugby mad nation it was twice as beautful to savour and enjoy it as nobody except me thiught we could do it but everyone here wanted us to.
I know next to nothing about rugby, but it was nice to see those fellows in ecstacy after a huge victory on a big worldwide stage. What's the deal with that French player who looks like Rasputin on steriods ?
I have to say, it was great to see the sheer fighting spirit shown by Los Pumas. The Kiwi commentators were certainly very impressed.
(Now I can breathe easy, since the All Blacks have played their opening fixture and avoided doing a France.)
Johnny, as soon as Rasputin or the Caveman/the Beast (as we started to call him) came on I thought it was over. The guy looked sinister to say the least. That and what ended up happening is that we saw the game replayed and though I had made sure to avoid all places where I could learn what happened, some of my friends knew the final result. They kept on making statements like "They (los Pumas) do end up playing well" and "You'll be happy with the way they played" but in such a way that it implied that we played well but ultimately lost because of luck or something. Therefore, I had prepared myself for an eventual loss and when he came on, was waiting for France to score their try...
Good thing that although he looked like he could kill a person, his ball-handling was kind of suspect, hehe (he is called Chabal, right?).
I'm trying to come down because we still have 3 more games to play one of them being against Ireland who are very dangerous.
Off to go find Corleto's try just to see it again :)
-argentinafan
BTW, off topic but nevertheless. Congratulations on the All Blacks win Linda! They played really really well. Massive destruction. I also have to say that I always love it when they do the Haka at the start. I got to see them do it live once. I get chills everytime :)
-argentinafan
hi seba,whats the best way to cotact you(email address)as im on my way to melbourne to see the match vs aussie,i will take pics etc.
oviously im very very excited at finally geting the chance to see my beloved argentina play.
cheers
What a win!!
Here in Ireland, before the match I was determined to be absolutely neutral, but as the game wore on, I was screaming for Los Pumas.
As George W. Bush might say, France completely "misunderestimated" the Argentinian team, expecting a strong pack and nothing from the backs. Laporte had five forwards and only two backs on the bench.
I really hope that you guys progress from the pool (as runners-up to Ireland, of course :-)) and get a better deal in the 2011 competition.
Also, I would love to see Argentina admitted to the Tri-Nations.
P.S. I have linked you in from my site.
Hey! Thanks everyone for this big feedback on the rugby world cup. I wrote a few articles about it in the past and never got too many comments, but now that the real thing is on, that changed!
First of all, I'm still laughing at Rasputin on esteroids! hahaha! Thanks for the magic, johnny!
Pablo, you can write an e-mail to argentina.correspondent@gmail.com and then let me know you wrote to me by posting a comment here (if it's not too much of a hassle). The thing is that I don't check that e-mail everyday and a week or two may pass before I read it. Don't have the habit.
Now...Linda...I know you'll be very jealous...but I was at the Stade Velodrome today and I have interviewed Doug Howlett and Richie McCaw. Dan Carter walked next to me and one of my team-mates interviewed him.
Doug is such a nice guy. Very polite, very "accessible". It was a perfect day and it was the first time I see the haka performed live. Classic. The interesting bit about today is that team Italy decided to turn their back on it and it back-fired big time! Richie and co. where REALLY MAD and they went for it. A huge gap between the two teams.
Also...a little story from Friday. I'm staying near Marseille in a city called Aix-en-Provence. There is a rugby stadium near our accommodation and they were showing France v Argentina on big screen. It was free to get in and there was food and drinks inside the stadium. So we went (with my wife) and we were about 1000 people there. 998 French, Diana and I! I've never felt so visitor in my life! But they were really respectful (I was wearing my Racing Club shirt -same colours of Argentina- and Diana was wearing a polo shirt with ARGENTINA written at the back). After the match, we were the only ones smiling and some French even came to congratulate us and we shook hands and all that.
Thank god there is no hooliganism in rugby...or else...I would have been killed or something!
Welcome Gerry! And thanks for linking us. You've got to know that I've got a soft spot for The Republic and they are my Winning Eleven (Pro Evolution Soccer) team. I just love the boys in green. You're welcome to comment in our blog and give us some insight on ROG and his teammates. I do expect a classic match between Ireland and Pumas in this World Cup and who knows? Maybe you kick France out of their own cup?
2-2 v Slovakia...hmmmm...there are still chances of qualifying but it's going to be tough!
Our football team is in the doldrums at the moment. Staunton is not an international class manager. We have some good talent coming through at the moment like Kevin Doyle (who scored a screamer last night), Stephen Ireland and Paul McShane.They need a good manager to get the best out of them.
The game last night was like many others recently. They had it won going into time added-on, and then fell asleep, allowing the Slovaks in to equalise.
We're not going to qualify this time round, as we would have to get maximum points from our matches with Czech and Germany, and I think we can only realistically hope for draws in those games, at best.
Thanks argentinafan! Here in NZ everybody's going absolutely crazy, it's great.
Seba: wow, good for you! That's great. Funny thing about Doug Howlett: his parents live about 10 minutes from where I do!
Good to hear you're having a good time there in Marseille - the atmosphere there looked amazing.
Seba, that is a scary thought to be the only ones supporting the opposition in the land of the host nation. An experience to cherish though, anyway after all the first gmes have played out at the world cup, i would think that in Pool D, the bonus pts is going to be very very vital in determing who goes through. I hope that the PUMAS will post 4 tries (to get the 1 bonus point) at least against the Georgians tomorrow.
What a great feedback are we having here on the Rugby World Cup!!! Lets keep this wonderful momentum going.
Congratulation Linda on your beloved All Blacks. They were simply out of this world. At this moment I don’t see anyhow that they can’t win the World Cup this time. Though they will face some tough challenge from the Wallabies and Springboks or maybe Ireland and Wales, overall i my opinion they are still miles ahead the rest of the pack.
Welcome to our blog Gerry, please feel free to comment here more often.
At this moment I’m still in cloud 9 after witnessing some great success from our beloved Albiceleste for the past few weeks.
I have to admit that I was very skeptical about our chances (honestly I never gave a chance at all!!!) in both rugby and basketball. Now that the Tall Albiceleste is going to the Olympics to defend our gold, I’m just going to keep being skeptical about the team that I love so much so that they keep proving me wrong every now and then. As long it works then I don’t mind at all.
Next up is Georgia, can’t wait for that.
Passion was the key to the Los Pumas victory! What a game by Argentina. To me it seemed like France just couldn't get anything working for them. I am really impressed by the forwards and their commitment. They totally disrupted the French. I hope they keep it up for the whole tournament :-)
Thanks for your comment Wayne, A BIG welcome to our blog.
Also thanks for the e-mail.
Yes I must agree with you about the key-word that you've just mentioned "PASSION".
It seems that not just the Los Pumas, but the whole rugby game itself is a very passionate sport.
The expression on the players face speaks for itself.
I dare to say this but not even footballer don't show that kind of passion when they enter the field.
I guess it's due to the nature of the sport itself.
greetings from madrid!
a pumas supporter here from cordoba. i just wanted to say that i am absolutely delighted with the way our beloved pumas are playing and giving us the goosebumps with every push and GARRA (translate this for me please!) and making us proud of being argentinians.
just a quick note, for those showing surprise at this remarkable win by argentina: argentina won 4 out of the previous 5 matches against france, so it shouldn't have caught no one off side!.
Thank you for puting up this blog and i'll try and come by as often as i can.
Julian
hi everybody i`m william of sussex and i really loved argentinian display in the world cup.
They hace the best defense and have some quality players like contempomi (in my opinion is one of the best players in the world), pichot, hernandez, ledesma and fernandez lobbe and also they have really good backup players such as durand, rimas, etc...
They play for glory no for money that`s the deal i think...
Well as england bad performances continues i expect pumas to reach semifinals
Les go Pumas!!!!!!!!!
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