Corletto ruins French party

The Pumas had the nerve and unbending courage to deliver the game of their lives and hijack a night which was supposed to launch France off on their soaring journey towards claiming the richest bonus in rugby history.

No sooner had they welcomed the planet to their Flying Saucer of a Stade de France than the Six Nations champions began falling foul of the biggest cats in the rugby jungle.

A team whose coach is off to run Leicester at the end of the tournament have given the tournament a start as riotous as the opening ceremony which preceded it.

The tremors caused by Argentina will extend far beyond France, a country reduced to the brink of a collective nervous breakdown from the moment Ignacio Corleto streaked off on his long run for the only try.

Appropriately, it made all the difference and nobody will have tracked the Pumas' every move with keener interest than Ireland, watching from their base in Bordeaux.

Instead of being a procession for France, the question is not whether the South Americans qualify but who follows them into the last eight.

Once they have taken care of the game but limited Georgians and the hopeless Namibians, Argentina will complete their pool back here against Ireland at the end of the month knowing that another win will surely allow them to avoid New Zealand in the quarter-finals.

No reward can be too great for what they did to France. Felipe Contepomi ensured his team were never behind.

In the end, as French desperation mounted over Argentina's refusal to crack, Contepomi could afford to fluff two late penalties.

By then Europe's best team had been crushed beneath the weight of expectation, Skrela and fly half replacement Frederic Michalak making a hash of short-range second-half penalties which betrayed their inability to cope with the occasion.

After two losing finals and two losing semi-finals to show for the five previous World Cups, the French have promised their players £130,000 a man to win the trophy this time.

An unforgettable occasion provided a glitzy springboard for a team built on a usually iron defence and a disciplined brand of controlled fury all over the pitch.

But the Argentines refused to play ball. Unimpressed at standing through two opening speeches, they seized the initiative straight from the French kick-off. Three lineouts and two failed Juan-Martin Hernandez drop -goal attempts had Europe's champion team beating an early retreat before conceding the first of Contepomi's penalties.

Three times within the first 25 minutes, English referee Tony Spreadbury pulled various French forwards up for technical offences and three times Leinster's Dublinbased doctor bisected the posts from wide angles.

A short-range David Skrela penalty and one sweeping attack from deep was all France managed during the halfhour before Argentina delivered the try they had been threatening.

Corleto, the full back who plies his trade with the champion Parisians of Stade Francais, scored in scintillating fashion, setting off on a long diagonal run towards the corner after Manuel Contepomi's interception of Remy Martin's pass had denied Aurelien Rougerie a try at the other end.

Up in the stand, head coach Bernard Laporte could only watch in an increasingly agitated state as the nightmare unfolded.

The other Contepomi twin, Felipe, smacked his conversion against the far upright but France kept inviting him to take regular aim.

The roar for Skrela's second penalty had barely subsided before Felipe Contepomi restored the Pumas' 11-point lead, guiding a long-distance fourth penalty from inside his own half.

Skrela added a penalty on halftime and another on the hour but it was not enough.

FRANCE: C Heymans; A Rougerie, Y Jauzion, D Traille, C Dominici; D Skrela, P Mignoni; O Milloud, R Ibanez (capt), P de Villiers; F Pelous, J Thion; S Betsen, I Harinordoquy, R Martin.

Substitutes: F Michalak (for Traille, 17-26min, for Skrela, 62), D Szarzewski (for Ibanez, 61), S Chabal (for Pelous, 61), J Bonnaire (for Martin, 61), J-B Elissalde (for Mignoni, 73).

Pens: D Skrela 4.

ARGENTINA: I Corleto; L Borges, M Contepomi, F Contepomi, H Agulla; J M Hernandez, A Pichot, (capt); R Roncero, M Ledesma, M Scelzo; I Fernandez Lobbe, P Albacete; L Ostiglia, J-M Leguizamon, J M Fernandez Lobbe.

Substitutes: R Kairelis (for I Fernandez Lobbe, 28), H Senillosa (for M Contepomi, 48-50, 73), S Bonorino (for Scelzo, 64), M Durand (for Ostiglia, 73).

Try: I Corleto. Pens: F Contepomi 4.

Referee: Tony Spreadbury (England).