Tokyo (AFP)

Adapt to the eventual rain, master the tempo and grinta of the Pumas, take advantage of their supposed weakness in closed scrums: this is the path that the XV of France will have to borrow to launch its World Cup with a victory, Saturday against Argentina to Tokyo.

+ In G major

Since she joined the Rugby Championship, Argentina has changed: she is no longer the team that liked to slow down the game. On the contrary, it imposes a frantic pace. "It's a team with a big volume, able to repeat many sequences, to hold the ball," stresses Charles Ollivon.

The XV of France has precisely focused its preparation on the search for speed and mobility. More than the preparation matches against Scotland and Italy, the meeting on Saturday will tell whether the efforts provided have paid off.

But he must nevertheless seek to slow down the tempo imposed by the Argentines, by fighting battle in the regroupings. What he did not manage to do in Scotland on August 24 (14-17), where the presence of Wenceslas Lauret was sorely missed. The Racingman, with a unique profile of tackler-scraper, is back, and will have the main mission to "rot" the outlets of Argentine balls. The Blues, them, will obviously have to take care to assure theirs by quick supports. That had been lacking, too, in Edinburgh.

"They bet on the speed of movement, we saw that they played with very fast rucks and we know that the game will be played partly on the ground," summarizes Yoann Huget.

By slowing the liberation of Argentina, the Tricolores will also have more time to put pressure on Nicolas Sanchez, the opener of Pumas. "We will have to squeeze him hard, not let him play, otherwise he will hurt us and if we manage to pin him down, we will have 50% of their team," said Fickou, Sanchez's teammate at Stade Français.

+ On the right foot

A comfortable ball in hand, Sanchez is also in the running foot game, weapon that could be crucial on Saturday. Especially if the rain comes, a significant probability to two days of the match.

Both teams will then be forced to reconsider their gaming ambitions downward. "Of desire and movement, there will always be but it will be more alternating, play on foot to make them back .. Control the ball will not be easy" if it rains, agrees Fickou.

Will the Blues be able to reduce the sails of a general game plan based on movement and speed, using foot and play upwind? Until their arrival in the archipelago, they have hardly seen a drop of rain in two and a half months of preparation. But since then, they have been able to live in this eventuality.

Offensively, the Roman opener Ntamack will take a leading role in the strategy to adopt and implement. And defensively, the rear triangle composed of Maxime Médard (back), Yoann Huget and Damian Penaud (wings) can expect to receive a rain of candles. Individually, all three are quite comfortable in the airspace. But collectively, the last outings against the Anglo-Saxon teams (England, Ireland, Wales) cast doubt on the ability of the XV of France to ensure in this area.

+ Melee depressed?

Who says rain, says ball slippery, so in-front and mixed closed. The former strong point of the Pumas who, in recent years, suffer considerably in this sector. They had been dominated against the Blues last November in Lille (28-13 for France), and were martyred by South Africa (defeat 46-13) in August.

"I know the pride of the Argentines If we had moved like that, if we had heard that we were weak in melee, we would have done every day during the preparation," tempers Jefferson Poirot, suspicious on the supposed superiority of the Blues in closed mêlée. In addition, the left pillar will not find its vis-à-vis November: Santiago Medrano has left his place to the experienced Juan Figallo, while left Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro was preferred to Santiago Garcia Botta.

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