Narrow win for France

Christophe Dominici scored twice as France survived a late Argentina fightback to win 27-26.

France have partially responded to the back-to-back defeats meted out by the All Blacks with a narrow win against Argentina.

The home side eventually took victory 27-26 at the Stade de France, the Test acting as a warm up for next year's opening World Cup match.

Despite the relative strength of the two nations, victory for France did in fact represent their first against Argentina since 1999.

Four French defeats had come in the intervening period, but three tries - including two by winger Christophe Dominici - and 12 points from the boot of scrum-half Dimitri Yachvili proved insurmountable.

But the Pumas, who have beaten England and Italy in their last two starts, certainly gave the home side a good run for their money, with number eight Gonzalo Longo and full back Juan Martin Hernandez scoring second-half tries.

Argentina's tally was bolstered with two penalties from Federico Todeschini, with replacement fly-half Felipe Contepomi scoring two penalties and the same number of conversions.

The home side showed enough of their trademark flair, but the final scoreline reflected both that the World Cup hosts have work to do before the showpiece event, and also the continuing emergence of Argentinian rugby.

The visitors went ahead after 10 minutes courtesy of a Todeschini penalty, but France's response was swift with the pacy Dominici breezing through Argentina's defence six minutes later.

Yachvili converted, and then exchanged penalties with Todeschini before the Argentinean was forced to limp off.

France's second try was then scored when, in receipt of a pass from Yachvili, centre Florian Fritz touched down in the left-hand corner, with Yachvili again kicking the extras.

With Yachvili missing a penalty and Contepomi finding the target, France headed into the interval 17-9 ahead.

And the home side increased their lead upon resumption of play, Elvis Vermeulen forcing an Argentinean mistake to allow Dominici to pounce, with Yachvili again converting.

The latter then kicked another penalty but Argentina then began to mount a comeback, with the powerful Longo resisting two tackles on his way to touching down.

Contepomi's conversion was followed by a penalty, with full-back Hernandez then latching on to the fly-half's chip to score.

The subsequent conversion set up the prospect of another Argentinian victory but, in a tense climax, France showed enough resolve to hold on.