No one with an ounce of compassion can deny Argentina deserve a sporting break. The country's economic crisis remains so bad that even the World Cup pales into insignificance and Saturday night's stirring win over the Six Nations champions will not halt the bitter demonstrations in the Avenida de Mayo.
This result, though, should be enthusiastically greeted by the global rugby community. France may have looked desperately stale until the last 10 minutes when they stormed back from 28-13 down but their hosts can now lay genuine claim to a place in the narrow top tier of Test-playing nations.
Unlike New Zealand and South Africa, who both sneaked home in injury-time on Argentinian soil in the past 19 months, the French could not locate the emergency exit with their fly-half Gérald Merceron narrowly missing a 45-metre penalty which would have snatched victory in the second minute of added time.
Had he succeeded, the efforts of the massive Pumas pack would have been cruelly wasted and their England-based backs would have felt equally robbed. Diego Albanese, Leeds's new signing from Gloucester, was responsible for the outstanding moment of the match when he sprinted around a startled French defence to score a splendid winger's try in the right-hand corner. Bristol's Felipe Contepomi added a crucial interception try five minutes later.
France, missing the leadership of the scrum-half Fabien Galthié, now head off for two Tests against the world champions Australia. As for Argentina, Contepomi declined to get carried away: "This victory does a lot for us as a team but I hope politicians don't use it as a shield to cover all the things they've done wrong."
Argentina : Corleto; Camardon, Orengo, Arbizu (capt; Quesada h-t), Albanese; Contepomi, Pichot; Reggiardo (Grau, 69), Mendez (Ledesma, 69), Hasan, Fernandez Lobbe, Alvarez, Phelan (Durand, 79), Martin, Longo.
Tries: Mendez, Albanese, Contepomi. Cons: Contepomi 2. Pens: Contepomi 2. Drop-goal: Quesada.
France: Brusque; Rougerie, Marsh, Traille, Jeanjean; Merceron, Mignoni; Crenca, Ibanez (capt), Poux (Marconnet, 75), Pelous, Brouzet (Porcu, 66), Betsen, Magne, Labit (Chabal, 66; Azam, 80).
Tries: Brusque, Jeanjean, Marsh. Cons: Merceron 3. Pens: Merceron 2.
Referee: P Marshall (Australia).
Attendance: 35,000.
