After a thrilling win over Argentina to kick off their World Cup, France will be focusing on the positives and forgetting about the negatives according to skipper Guilhem Guirado.
The France hooker was at a loss to explain his side’s chalk and cheese approach before and after half time.
In the first half it was France at their all-court best, Maxime Medard offloading, Damian Penaud spinning out of tackles and Antoine Dupont and Gael Fickou both crossing for tries.
At the break they led 20-3 – thanks also to the boot of Romain Ntamack who impressed at fly-half in his first World Cup outing.
But in the second half they allowed the Pumas to get a foothold.
Two tries from rolling mauls, one from Guido Petti and one from Julian Montoya, saw the South Americans – twice before conquerors of France at World Cups – come roaring back.
But in the end Camille Lopez’s drop goal saw France over the line – although there was still an agonising wait as Emiliano Boffelli lined up a long-range penalty in the final minute that curled wide.
Guirado admitted: “I thought the game was lost. I am very proud of my boys, it was a tough game and we are very happy to have got the win.
“We never controlled the game in the second half but we are very proud of the first half because we were very clinical. When we play like this, we are very dangerous.”
“I am not sure why (we lost control). We never controlled the ball, we (managed) just two or three phases. We are a much better team when we play.
“The scrum was very hard. But I want to say thank you to the supporters for coming tonight, and see you next time.”
