France will be aiming to complete a clean sweep of the South Americans when they take on Argentina in their final Test of the month at Estadio Jose Amalfitani in Buenos Aires on Saturday night.
With Australia looking solid against Wales, Los Pumas are at risk of slipping to eighth place in the world rankings if they lose this one by a big margin, while France are looking to keep the pressure on third-placed New Zealand.
Match preview
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While Scott Robertson was able to guide New Zealand to a narrow victory over England and Joe Schmidt's Wallabies got the better of Wales, Felipe Contepomi was unable to mark his first match in charge of Los Pumas with a victory as his counterparts did last week.
Contepomi made a total of nine changes from their last match, the World Cup playoff in October, but was still able to field an experienced team, including flanker Pablo Matera, who earned his 99th cap as well as his dependable skipper Julian Montoya.
Montoya and substitute centre Matias Orlando were Los Pumas' try scorers on the day and their contributions helped Los Pumas stay in the contest, but their hopes of a comeback were dashed with 13 minutes left as Theo Attissogbe celebrated his Test debut with a try to take Les Bleus to victory.
Including their 2019 World Cup defeat, Argentina have now lost each of their last five matches against France, dating back to a 27-0 demolition at Estadio Monumental Jose Fierro in Tucuman in June 2016.
However, with Les Bleus currently dealing with a host of issues off the field, Los Pumas may feel that this could be as good a chance as any of getting one over the side they have faced more than any other in Test rugby.
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Meanwhile, France kicked off their tour of South America with a 28-13 victory in Mendoza last weekend before putting in a commanding performance to beat Uruguay in Montevideo in midweek.
France's trip to South America has been an eventful one but for all the wrong reasons, as the side will now head into this weekend's matchup without three of their starting players due to off-field issues.
The first player who has found himself in trouble in the last week is fullback Melvyn Jaminet, who has been sent home after a video on social media surfaced showing the player making what was deemed a racist remark.
That incident came less than 48 hours before Hugo Auradou and Oscar Jegou, who featured in France's 28-13 test victory over Argentina last Saturday, were arrested following an allegation of sexual assault.
Both players were transferred from Buenos Aires to the city of Mendoza where the crime allegedly took place and are awaiting a final response from Argentine authorities.
Aside from the off-field drama Les Bleus have had to contend with, their fresh-faced squad have performed impressively so far, following up last weekend's victory with a 43-28 victory against a plucky Los Teros, who ran in four tries but lacked the class of their opponents.
Given the issues the French are facing behind the scenes, they will likely be looking forward to wrapping up their tour here, preferably on a high note, and heading home to reset and continue building toward the Autumn series.
Argentina form (all competitions):
- W
- W
- W
- L
- L
- L
France form (all competitions):
- W
- D
- W
- W
- W
- W
Team News
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Bautista Delguy made an impressive return to international rugby last weekend and he should keep his place in the back three alongside Martin Bogado and Mateo Carreras on the opposite wing.
The formidable trio of Eduardo Bello, Julian Montoya and Thomas Gallo are likely to lead the pack this week with Lucas Paulos and Matias Alemanno providing the power in the second row.
Among those who made their debuts for France during this tour is Samoa-born Posolo Tuilagi, who came off the bench in the second half last weekend to become the sixth member of the Tuilagi family to play international rugby.
Baptiste Serin is expected to resume captaincy responsibilities for Les Bleus this weekend, while Antoine Frisch and Theo Attissogbe, who scored on debut last week will be hoping to keep their places in the starting 15.
Romain Briatte and Lucas Dubois are expected to come into the side for Auradou, Jegou and Jaminet respectively.
Argentina predicted lineup: 15 Martin Bogado, 14 Bautista Delguy, 13 Matias Moroni, 12 Jeronimo De La Fuente, 11 Mateo Carreras, 10 Santiago Carreras, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 8 Joaquin Oviedo, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Lucas Paulos, 4 Matias Alemanno, 3 Eduardo Bello, 2 Julian Montoya, 1 Thomas Gallo
Replacements: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Mayco Vivas, 18 Lucio Sordoni, 19 Franco Molina, 20 Juan Bautista Pedemonte, 21 Lautaro Bazan Velez, 22 Tomas Albornoz, 23 Matias Orlando
France predicted lineup: 15 Leo Barre, 14 Theo Attissogbe, 13 Emilien Gailleton, 12 Antoine Frisch, 11 Lester Etien, 10 Antoine Hastoy, 9 Baptiste Serin, 8 Jordan Joseph, 7 Romain Briatte, 6 Lenni Nouchi, 5 Baptiste Pesenti, 4 Pierre-Henri Azagoh, 3 Georges-Henri Colombe, 2 Gaetan Barlot, 1 Jean-Baptiste Gros
Replacements: 16 Teddy Baubigny, 17 Romain Taofifenua, 18 Demba Bamba, 19 Posolo Tuilagi, 20 Mickael Guillard, 21 Ibrahim Diallo, 22 Baptiste Couilloud, 23 Lucas Dubois
We say: Argentina 24-36 France
While there were several concerns about whether this young French squad would be able to go toe-to-toe with the experienced Los Pumas last week, Les Bleus proved their quality and followed up with an even more impressive performance in midweek.
Despite the issues the French are facing behind the scenes at present, we feel they will be able to block out the noise for one more match and fancy them to end their tour on a winning note.
No Data Analysis info
Devesh Jaganath
