Argentina v France: Teams

France's rugby players are determined to restore some national pride with a win over Argentina following the disastrous display of their football team.

Les Bleus take on Los Pumas at the Velez Sarsfield Stadium in Buenos Aires on Saturday in the finale to a long, hard season for their top players.

Following their Six Nations Grand Slam triumph many of Marc Lievremont's men were involved as Toulouse and Biarritz fought it out in last month's European Cup final in Paris.

France's comprehensive 42-17 defeat to South Africa in Cape Town pointed to a battle-weary group and it is this fatigue that has become the primary concern ahead of Saturday's clash.

They have also suffered further blows with the loss of fly-half David Skrela and winger Aurelien Rougerie, who have both been ruled out after coming down with gastroenteritis.

The situation is in marked contrast to last season's summer tour when the French had a poor Six Nations and French clubs had a rough time in the European Cup.

Tiredness

Les Bleus went on stun the All Blacks 27-22 in Dunedin and register their fourth ever victory in New Zealand.

"It is always the case at the end of the season," said Lievremont. "It is always difficult to find cohesion. Bodies are tired, the players are weary and that is entirely understandable.

"Last season, the frustration of a bad Six Nations, the frustration of a poor European Cup meant the players who went on the tour were hungry to make up for that.

"This year, there is a lot more tiredness and that has taken us back a bit."

Even their workhorse skipper Thierry Dusautoir admitted that the players were not mentally prepared for the tour.

"At one time, we had the idea that our work was done," he said. "This tour was not a priority in everyone's head.

Privilege

"But that doesn't rule out that there is always a minimum that any French team must achieve

"It would be a shame if we can't limit it to this defeat against the Springboks in what has been a very good season for the France."

Argentina:15 Martín Rodríguez, 14 Lucas González Amorosino, 13 Gonzalo Tiesi, 12 Santiago Fernández, 11 Rafael Carballo, 10 Felipe Contepomi, 9 Nicolás Vergallo, 8 Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe, 7 Alejandro Campos, 6 Genaro Fessia, 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Manuel Carizza, 3 Martín Scelzo, 2 Mario Ledesma, 1 Rodrigo Roncero.
Replacements:16 Agustín Creevy, 17 Marcos Ayerza, 18 Juan Figallo, 19 Mariano Galarza, 20 Juan Manuel Leguizamón, 21 Agustín Figuerola, 22 Horacio Agulla.

France: 15 Jerome Porical, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 Lionel Mazars, 12 Florian Fritz, 11 Julien Malzieu, 10 Francois Trinh-Duc, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Julien Bonnaire , 6 Thierry Dusautoir (capt), 5 Lionel Nallet, 4 Pascal Papé, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Fabien Barcella.
Replacements: 16 Guillem Guirado, 17 Jean-Baptise Poux, 18 Julien Pierre, 19 Gregory Lamboley, 20 Dimitri Yachvili, 21 Maxime Mermoz, 22 Clément Poitrenaud.