2012 France rugby union tour of Argentina
Coach(es)	Philippe Saint-André
Tour captain(s)	Pascal Papé
Top point scorer(s)	Frédéric Michalak (38)
Top try scorer(s)	Yoann Huget (2) Geoffrey Doumayrou (2)
Top test point scorer(s)	Frédéric Michalak (19)
Top test try scorer(s)	Yoann Huget (2)
Summary	P W D L
Total	03 02 00 01
Test match	02 01 00 01
Opponent	P W D L
Argentina	1 1 0 1
Tour chronology
Previous tour	South Africa & Argentina 2010
Next tour	New Zealand 2013

In June 2012, France toured Argentina to play two Tests against the Pumas. The French tour was one in a series of tours by northern teams to be hosted by southern hemisphere nations.

The previous French tour of Argentina took place in 2010 as part of a global Two Test tour of South Africa and Argentina, where France lost to both nations. France's last winning tour of Argentina dated back to 1998 when the touring side claimed victory in both Tests. Since then France had an overall losing record against Argentina with 5 wins (4 at home and 1 in Ireland in the 1999 Rugby World Cup) and 7 losses (3 at home including two in the 2007 Rugby World Cup and 4 in Argentina).

No mid-week fixture had been planned for this tour, however most of the French squad, styled for the occasion as the "XV du Président", played a warm-up fixture against a team hand-picked by Serge Betsen, a former France international, for his jubilee.^[1]

The series was drawn 1-1, Argentina winning the first test and France the second.^[2]

Argentina and France's next encounter took place on 17 November 2012 on French soil as part of the 2012 end of year tests. France claimed another victory (39-22) against their old foes.

Background

Argentina experienced a strong start in the 2011 Rugby World Cup with a rather successful pool stage, finishing runners-up to England with three wins (over Georgia, Romania and Scotland) and a narrow loss to England (9-13). However, the Pumas were unable to capitalise on it when they met future World Champions the All Blacks in the quarter-finals, losing 33-10.

France, on the other hand, experienced a rather slow start in the competition with two wins (over Japan and Canada) and two losses (to New Zealand and Tonga), finishing runners-up to New Zealand on the virtue of a greater tally of bonus points than Tonga (who also finished with two wins and two losses). However, France produced a stronger showing in the knock-out stages, beating England in the quarter-finals (19-12), Wales in the semi-finals (9-8) and losing with the narrowest of margins to New Zealand in the final (8-7).

Due to the World Cup neither team played any Test in the 2011 end of year tests. On 2 January 2012 France was ranked 3rd in the IRB World Rankings while Argentina stood in the 7th place.

France experienced a disappointing 2012 Six Nations Championship with two wins (over Italy and Scotland), two losses (to England and Wales) and a draw (with Ireland), finishing 4th overall.

As a result on 2 April France had dropped to the 6th place in the IRB Rankings while Argentina remained on the 7th spot.

As part of Italy's Summer Tour of Americas and prior to the arrival of the French team, Argentina played a Test against Italy on Saturday 9 June in San Juan. Argentina won the game 37-22.^[3]

Before the first test between France and Argentina they remained respectively on the 6th and 7th spot in the IRB Rankings.

Warm-up fixture

Serge Betsen's XV FB 15 Pepito Elhorga RW 14 Dave Vainqueur OC 13 Romain Cabannes IC 12 Damien Traille LW 11 Jean-Baptiste Gobelet FH 10 Andrew Mehrtens SH 9 Byron Kelleher N8 8 Chris Masoe OF 7 Jean Monribot BF 6 Serge Betsen (c) RL 5 Gambo Adamou LL 4 Kirill Kulemin TP 3 Tim Payne HK 2 Benoît August LP 1 Benoît Lecouls Replacements: HK 16 Benjamin Noirot PR 17 Jérémy Castex PR 18 Fabien Barcella LK 19 Bernard N'Nomo FL 20 Oscar Limani UB 21 Benjamin Dambielle UB 22 Paul Warwick UB 23 Julien Laharrague WG 24 Marvin O'Connor Coach: David Ellis

XV du Président FB 15 Brice Dulin RW 14 Yoann Huget OC 13 Geoffrey Doumayrou IC 12 Maxime Mermoz LW 11 Benjamin Fall FH 10 Frédéric Michalak SH 9 Maxime Machenaud N8 8 Raphaël Lakafia OF 7 Fulgence Ouedraogo BF 6 Wenceslas Lauret RL 5 Romain Taofifenua LL 4 Pascal Papé (c) TP 3 David Attoub HK 2 Dimitri Szarzewski LP 1 Yvan Watremez Replacements: HK 16 Arnaud Héguy PR 17 Antoine Guillamon PR 18 Yannick Forestier LK 19 Alexandre Flanquart N8 20 Damien Chouly SH 21 Florian Cazenave FH 22 François Trinh-Duc CE 23 Henry Chavancy WG 24 Romain Martial Coach: Philippe Saint-André

• 6 players from the XV du Président (all among the replacements) were not originally included in the French squad that toured Argentina. Arnaud Héguy, Yannick Forestier, Alexandre Flanquart, Damien Chouly, Florian Cazenave and Henry Chavancy respectively replaced Christopher Tolofua, Vincent Debaty, Yoann Maestri and Christophe Samson, Louis Picamoles, Morgan Parra and Wesley Fofana and Florian Fritz, on club duty for the Top 14 playoffs. (Jean-Marcellin Buttin was also on club duty but no additional player was called to replace him as Brice Dulin filled the full-back position.)

Test Matches

First Test

16 June 2012 18:10 ART (UTC-03)

Argentina	23–20	France
Try: Agulla 4' c Montero 76' c Con: Contepomi (2/2) 5', 77' Pen: Contepomi (3/6) 24', 39', 56'	Report[5]	Try: Picamoles 26' m Con: Parra (0/1) Pen: Parra (4/5) 3', 10', 22', 43' Trinh-Duc (1/1) 52'

Estadio Mario Alberto Kempes, Córdoba Attendance: 20,000 [6] Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)

Team details

Argentina France Argentina FB 15 Román Miralles  40' RW 14 Belisario Agulla OC 13 Joaquín Tuculet IC 12 Felipe Contepomi (c) LW 11 Manuel Montero FH 10 Ignacio Mieres SH 9 Martín Landajo  48' N8 8 Tomás Leonardi 51' to 61' OF 7 Tomás de la Vega BF 6 Julio Farías Cabello RL 5 Esteban Lozada  56' LL 4 Benjamín Macome  65' TP 3 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro  56' HK 2 Bruno Postiglioni  56' LP 1 Eusebio Guiñazú Replacements: HK 16 Andrés Bordoy  56' PR 17 Pablo Henn  56' LK 18 Rodrigo Bruno  65' LK 19 Rodrigo Báez  56' SH 20 Tomás Cubelli  48' FB 21 Benjamín Urdapilleta  40' WG 22 Facundo Barrea Coach: Santiago Phelan France FB 15 Brice Dulin RW 14 Jean-Marcellin Buttin OC 13 Wesley Fofana IC 12 Florian Fritz  78' LW 11 Yoann Huget FH 10 François Trinh-Duc  58' SH 9 Morgan Parra N8 8 Louis Picamoles  66' OF 7 Fulgence Ouedraogo BF 6 Wenceslas Lauret RL 5 Yoann Maestri  74' LL 4 Pascal Papé (c) TP 3 David Attoub HK 2 Dimitri Szarzewski  66' LP 1 Yvan Watremez  40' Replacements: HK 16 Christopher Tolofua  66' PR 17 Vincent Debaty  40' LK 18 Romain Taofifenua  74' FL 19 Alexandre Lapandry  66' SH 20 Maxime Machenaud FH 21 Frédéric Michalak  58' CE 22 Maxime Mermoz  78' Coach: Philippe Saint-André Touch judges: Wayne Barnes Christie du Preez Television match official: Shaun Veldsman Brice Dulin, Romain Taofifenua, Christopher Tolofua and Yvan Watremez made their full international debuts for France in this match. Rodrigo Baez made his full international debut for Argentina in this match. With this match Argentina extended their winning streak at home against France to 5 games and 10 years and overcame them in the IRB Rankings (swapping their 7th place with France's 6th).

Second Test

23 June 2012 18:10 ART (UTC-03)

Argentina	10–49	France
Try: Vega 74' c Con: Contepomi 1/1 74' Pen: Contepomi 1/1 25'	Report	Try: Fall 11' c Huget (2) 33' c, 62' m Machenaud 39' c Mermoz 55' c Lapandry Con: Michalak 5/6 12', 33', 40', 56', 68' Pen: Michalak 3/3 17', 27', 30'

Estadio José Fierro, Tucumán Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)