Friday night's international rugby sees France clash with Argentina in Paris and it's the home side who are clear favourites with the bookmakers.
France v Argentina, Friday 22nd November, Paris, KO 22:10 (South African time)
Referee: Luke Pearce (RFU)
Assistant Referees: Andrea Piardi (FIR), Morné Ferreira (SARU)
TMO: Ian Tempest (RFU)
Weather Forecast - Paris
France:
France (-1.5 points) were marginal favourites for last week's clash with the All Blacks in Paris and the handicap line proved to be spot on as Les Bleus held on for a 30-29 victory. France fought back from 17-10 down at half time and scored 3 tries to 2 and 2 of those tries came early in the second half to put the hosts in front. New Zealand narrowed the deficit to a single point on 75 minutes but France kept them out for the remainder of the match.
A week earlier France thrashed Japan 52-12 , scoring all of 8 tries. That was their first action since July when they shared a 2 match series with Los Pumas in Argentina, winning the first match 28-13 and losing the second 33-25. They also beat Uruguay 43-28 on that tour.
In the Six Nations early this year France finished as runners up, 5 points behind Ireland with a record of 3 wins, 1 draw and 1 defeat. They lost their opening match at home to Ireland 38-17 before wins in Scotland (20-16), a 13-13 draw at home to Italy, a 45-24 victory in Wales and a 33-31 home win over England.
Argentina:
Argentina were also in action on Friday night of last week. They took on Ireland in Dublin and were given around 12.5 points start on the bookmakers main handicap line and given they trailed 22-9 at half time that didn't look enough. However Ireland failed to score a point in the second half but Argentina's fight back came up short and they eventually lost 22-19.
Argentina put Italy away 50-18 in Udine the previous week, taking control in the second half when 5 of their total of 7 tries were scored in a very comfortable victory.
Argentina's recent Rugby Championship campaign comprised of vastly contrasting results. They started by turning the All Blacks over in New Zealand 38-30 but a round later they lost to the same opponent 42-10. They returned home to be edged out by Australia 20-19 and then hammered the Wallabies 67-27 next time out. Another home fixture saw Los Pumas edge out the Springboks 29-28 which kept them in with a slim chance of landing the title heading into the final round. However the return with the Boks in South Africa was a one sided contest and Los pumas were thumped 48-7.
Team News
France: 15 Leo Barre, 14 Gabin Villiere, 13 Gael Fickou, 12 Yoram Moefana, 11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 10 Thomas Ramos, 9 Antoine Dupont (captain), 8 Charles Ollivon, 7 Paul Boudehent, 6 Francois Cros, 5 Emmanuel Meafou, 4 Thibaud Flament, 3 Uini Atonio, 2 Peato Mauvaka, 1 Jean-Baptiste Gros
Replacements: 16 Julien Marchand, 17 Reda Wardi, 18 Georges-Henri Colombe, 19 Mickael Guillard, 20 Alexandre Roumat, 21 Marko Gazzotti, 22 Nolann Le Garrec, 23 Emilien Gailleton
Argentina: 15 Juan Cruz Mallia, 14 Rodrigo Isgro, 13 Lucio Cinti, 12 Matias Moroni, 11 Bautista Delguy, 10 Tomas Albornoz, 9 Gonzalo Garcia, 8 Joaquin Oviedo, 7 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Pedro Rubiolo, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Joel Sclavi, 2 Julian Montoya (captain), 1 Thomas Gallo.
Replacements: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Ignacio Calles, 18 Francisco Gomez Kodela, 19 Franco Molina, 20 Marcos Kremer, 21 Lautaro Bazan Velez, 22 Santiago Carreras, 23 Mateo Carreras
Recent Head to Head
Jul 24 Buenos Aires Argentina 33-25 France
Jul 24 Mendoza Argentina 13-28 France
Nov 21 Paris France 29–20 Argentina
Sep 19 Tokyo France 23-21 Argentina
The Betting
Updated 10h24 22 November
France -10.5 points at 9/10
Argentina +10.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
This handicap has been stable at -10.5 France since it opened and having capped the game at -12.5 I am not seeing a lot of value.
I expect this to be a tough game with a bit of niggle and although it doesn’t look like there will be rain during the game it is going to be freezing cold and I imagine slippery.
The points line is 53.5 and I like the unders which would have arrived in 7 of the last 8 matches between the sides and the last 3 in France.
BET: 4 units under 53.5 points at 1.03/1 (net decimal) at Betxchange
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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