Coach Felipe Contepomi and Argentina are bracing for the anticipated onslaught they’ll face against France in Paris on Friday night when they battle “the best player in the world”.
Two teams on the rise are set to clash in the French capital as Antoine Dupont leads France against Los Pumas in their season finale, with Les Bleus head coach Fabien Galthie already eyeing the 2025 Six Nations championship.
Argentina are hurting from last week’s loss at Ireland, which followed a hammering of Italy earlier in the month and a promising 2024 Rugby Championship campaign. Galthie’s side edged New Zealand by a point last Saturday in a rare highlight to a mixed 13 months since last year’s World Cup quarter-final loss on home soil.
“They’ve had a great season,” Galthie told reporters this week. “I think they would have been disappointed with last weekend. They’re a team that are fearless.”
France’s tough period has included a chastening defeat to Ireland, a drab draw with Italy and July’s scandal-hit tour of South America. Scrumhalf Dupont has now returned from his Olympics sevens success to play an influential part in a hammering of Japan and the nerve-wrecking All Blacks victory.
“We know that he is on the opposing team but we have to be careful not to put all our vision on one player and neglect the other 14 who also have supreme quality,” Contepomi told reporters. “Without a doubt he is the best player in the world and has been for years.”
For the Test against Los Pumas, who last claimed an away victory in this fixture in 2014, Galthie has dropped one of his key players since he took over in 2020. No 8 Gregory Alldritt misses out on the matchday 23 to rest.
The Six Nations is two months away and the 2027 World Cup is already on Galthie’s mind.
“We have a desire to create competition in the squad,” he said. “There’s this match, our final game of the year and the series, and a vision of the 2025 Six Nations with trips to Ireland and England. We also have a vision for 2027.”
Contepomi has made one change from the three-point loss in Dublin as Gonzalo Garcia starts at scrumhalf instead of Gonzalo Bertranou.
The 47-year-old coach can call upon 10 France-based players this week, including versatile fullback Juan Cruz Mallia, who has won three Top 14 titles since joining Toulouse in 2021.
“Juanchi is a very important player for the team, he is part of the group of leaders,” Contepomi said. “If you look at his career, he’s been constantly improving, and I think he’s in a spectacular moment as a player.”
Contepomi ends his first year in charge with the game at the Stade de France, having taken over from Michael Cheika after the World Cup, where Los Pumas finished fourth.
He has overseen six wins from 11 Tests, including an Argentina record of three victories in the Rugby Championship.
“I think we have improved, that we are on the right track, but there is still a lot to do,” he said. “I think we are still a team in the process of development.”
© Agence France-Presse
Photo: Franco Arland/Getty Images
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