Tokyo (AFP)

Three penalties and a free kick conceded: Saturday at the World Cup in Tokyo, the XV of France was dominated in scrum closed by the Argentines, which according to the Blues did not respect the new rule in this sector.

The Australian referee Angus Gardner quickly punished the French, penalized twice (4th and 12th) and a free kick (27th). Before, in the second half, to whistle again against them (47th). In contrast, the decision was taken in their favor once (37th), but once essential, since it allowed them to emerge from the pressure of Pumas in front of their line.

At the time, the Tricolores congratulated the right pillar Rabah Slimani, who had received the first penalty. After being heavily penalized twice by Mr. Gardner in November 2017 (central referee against New Zealand) and March 2018 (touch judge against England).

The XV of France had however gained the upper hand in closed scrimmage in November against the Argentineans, Lille (28-13), who were martyred in this sector by South Africa in August in the Rugby Championship.

The reason for this reversal of trend is all found for the Blues: the Pumas have ignored the new instructions issued in early summer by World Rugby. Now, the first line is forbidden to put the top of their head on the shoulder of the opponent before the referee orders the introduction, which allowed them to exercise a kind of "pre-push".

"What surprised us is that for the Argentineans a priori there was no change of rules! We saw that the referee had no reaction on it so we went back to do the same thing, which is good that is now known, "said the tricolor left pillar, Jefferson Poirot, for which, therefore, the new rule is" useless ".

"The Argentines came back to push the first two balloons, two-three times they take us to the ground before.I hold that we were able to stay cold, concentrated, on the four-five scrums that we chained in five meters to recover the penalty ", the famous of the 37th minute, embrays Guirado.

- "The + fucked + story" -

The captain and hooker, like Poirot beside whom he pushed, was also surprised by Mr Gardner's decisions: "The consistency of the referee ... on the preparation matches we have not been sensitized In the same way, it was a little bit on the field (Saturday), we knew that Argentina was pretty naughty, we have to do a lot better and react much more quickly. "

Poirot goes further, judging the Argentinian fray as one of those "who cheats the most", including the right pillar Juan Figallo (his vis-à-vis therefore), which pushes across.

"We are often cataloged as cheaters and it's annoying, we try to adapt, to be clean and we are a little more fucked up with the story.We will rework as we did before putting the pressure before "impact, and we will do like the others" adds Poirot.

But if, in the next match, against the United States on October 2, the referee is more fussy on the new rules? "But it will not be! I watched the game yesterday (Japan-Russia), they put the pressure and the referee did not say anything. (During) the first half Australia-Fiji (Saturday after -midi) it was the same thing. "

© 2019 AFP