Super Skrela sinks Pumas
David Skrela booted France to a gritty but welcome 12-6 victory over Argentina at the Stade Velodrome on Saturday.
Last Updated: 10/11/08 10:51am
David Skrela booted France to a gritty but welcome 12-6 victory over their bogey team Argentina at the Stade Velodrome on Saturday.
The Toulouse fly-half kicked a drop goal and three penalties while Argentina - who had beaten their opponents in six of their last seven matches including twice at the World Cup last year - hit back with two penalties from captain Felipe Contepomi.
France opened the scoring in the 13th minute through Skrela as he dropped a goal from 20 metres - just minutes after the Argentineans had missed a penalty through Contepomi.
The Pumas were not at their fluent best at all in the first-half, Contepomi's rare penalty miss evidence of that.
And when Juan Martin Hernandez drilled a clearing kick straight into touch just after the 20 minute mark, the player known as the 'Magic Man' said it all with the shake of his head.
Superb strike
However, the visitors did draw level in the 28th minute when French No.8 Louis Picamoles was penalised by referee Jonathan Kaplan and Contepomi this time took his opportunity.
Skrela, though, restored the hosts' three-point lead a minute later with a finely-taken penalty and extended it in the 33rd minute with a superb strike from long distance.
Contepomi had rediscovered his kicking touch and landed a stunning penalty from wide out on the left four minutes from the half-time whistle to keep the Pumas well in contact.
The second-half yielded little for the first 15 minutes or so and rather surprisingly captain Lionel Nallet was replaced by France's iconic figure from the 2007 World Cup Sebastien Chabal - shortly before centre Benoit Baby missed a kickable penalty.
Both sides battered away at each other for the rest of the half with no reward and Skrela, fittingly, finished the game with a penalty in the final minute.
