A week after being beaten by a very new look French team Los Pumas tuned their fortunes around with a 33-25 victory.
Argentina prop Thomas Gallo scored twice as his team levelled the two-Test series, hours after two members of the visitors’ squad were charged with rape and beating a woman.
Replacement Gallo made his contributions in 10 minutes during the second half as Los Pumas claimed their first win over Les Bleus since 2016.
France forwards Hugo Auradou, 20, and flank Oscar Jegou, 21, were arrested on Monday and formally charged on Friday after a woman accused them of raping her multiple times and beating her in a hotel room in the city of Mendoza after last weekend’s first Test.
The players have denied the accusation, and say sexual relations with the woman were consensual.
Youngster Mickael Guillard and veteran flank Judicael Cancoriet replaced Auradou and Jegou in the starting line-up as Fabien Galthie’s side eyed a first series success over Los Pumas since 1998.
Galthie was also without fullback Melvyn Jaminet after he was removed from the squad for making racist comments in a video on social media.
Another player missing was scrumhalf Antoine Dupont as the French poster boy prepares to play Sevens at this year’s Paris Olympics.
Argentina coach Felipe Contepomi handed flank Pablo Matera his 100th cap for the game at a sold-out Estadio Jose Amalfitani, having lost his first game in charge of the team seven days ago.
Galthie’s side began sluggishly lacking possession and territory before Dupont’s stand-in Baptiste Serin pounced on an Argentina error to open the scoring after 10 minutes.
The teams were level by the end of the first quarter as prop Eduardo Bello responded for the visitors with Santiago Carreras’ conversion making it 7-all.
Contepomi’s outfit continued to dominate and led 21-10 at the break after the referee awarded the hosts a penalty try after a powerful scrum and flyhalf Carreras crashed over after France flyhalf Antoine Hastoy kicked a penalty.
Les Bleus returned from the interval better and were back ahead with half an hour remaining as Pau teammates Emilien Gailleton and Theo Attissogbe scored to make it 25-21.
Argentina’s hopes of a first win over France in five games were handed a boost as Les Bleus prop Georges-Henri Colombes was shown a yellow card for a high tackle on lock Lucas Paulos with 23 minutes to go.
The hosts made Colombes’ absence count as 25-year-old Gallo crossed twice, with Carreras converting one of the tries, to take the score to 33-25 with 13 minutes left.
Colombes’ return to the field failed to inspire a comeback as Argentina prepared for next weekend’s Test in Montevideo against Uruguay and the upcoming Rugby Championship on a positive note.
Argentina 33 [Tries: Bello, penalty try, Carreras, Gallo 2; Cons: Carreras 3] France 25 [Tries: Serin, Gailleton, Attissogbe; Cons: Hastoy 2; Pens: Hastoy 2]
Argentina: 15 Santiago Cordero, 14 Bautista Delguy, 13 Matias Moroni, 12 Santiago Chocobares, 11 Mateo Carreras, 10 Santiago Carreras, 9 Lautaro Bazan Vedlez, 8 Joaquin Oviedo, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Lucas Paulos, 4 Franco Molina, 3 Eduardo Bello, 2 Julian Montoya (captain), 1 Mayco Vivas.
Replacements: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Thomas Gallo, 18 Lucio Sordoni, 19 Matias Alemanno, 20 Pedro Rubiolo, 21 Gonzalo Bertranou, 22 Tomas Albornoz, 23 Matias Orlando.
France: 15 Leo Barre, 14 Theo Attissogbe, 13 Emilien Gailleton, 12 Antoine Frisch, 11 Lester Etien, 10 Antoine Hastoy, 9 Baptiste Serin (captain), 8 Jordan Joseph, 7 Judicael Cancoriet, 6 Lenni Nouchi, 5 Baptiste Pesenti, 4 Mickael Guillard, 3 Georges-Henri Colombe, 2 Gaetan Barlot, 1 Jean-Baptiste Gros.
Replacements: 16 Teddy Baubigny, 17 Sebastien Taofifenua, 18 Demba Bamba, 19 Posolo Tuilagi, 20 Romain Briatte, 21 Killian Tixeront, 22 Baptiste Jauneau, 23 Leo Berdeu.
Referee: Andrew Brace (Wales)
Assistant referees: Chris Busby (Ireland), Eoghan Cross (Ireland)
TMO: Quinton Immelman (South Africa)
