Buenos Aires: France captain Baptiste Serin said on Saturday his team had had a “terrible” week after their 33-25 defeat by Argentina in Buenos Aires, which came hours after two members of the visiting team were accused of raping and beating a woman. .
French forward Hugo Auradou, 20, and Flemish Oscar Jegou, 21, were arrested on Monday and formally charged on Friday after a woman accused them of repeatedly raping and beating her in a hotel room in the city of Mendoza following the first test last weekend . .
The players have denied the allegations and claim that the sexual relations with the woman were consensual.
Serino’s team was also without fullback Melvyn Jaminet after he was removed from the squad on Sunday for making racist comments in a social media video.
Prop Thomas Gallo scored twice for the hosts as they leveled their two-match streak after last Saturday’s loss and claimed their first win over France since 2016.
“It’s hard to find words because we’ve had a terrible week,” Serin told Canal+.
“We wanted the tour to be memorable, but memorable on the pitch.
“Things happened that don’t reflect what we want to reflect, I won’t go into details. Today I’m proud of what we did on the field.”
Youngster Mickael Guillard and experienced winger Judicael Cancoriet replaced Auradou and Jegou in the starting line-up as Fabien Galthie’s second team eyed their first series success over Los Pumas since 1998.
Another missing player was scrum-half Antoine Dupont as a French rugby boy preparing to play sevens at this year’s Paris Olympics.
Argentina head coach Felipe Contepomi handed defender Pablo Matera his 100th cap for the game at a sold-out Estadio Jose Amalfitani after losing his first game in charge seven days ago.
Galthie’s side slowly began to lack possession and territory before Dupont’s substitute Serin pounced on an Argentina error to open the scoring after 10 minutes.
The teams were level at the end of the first quarter when prop Eduardo Bello responded for the visitors with a Santiago Carreras conversion to make it 7-7.
Contepomi’s outfit continued to dominate and led 21-10 at the break after the referee awarded the visitors a penalty try following a strong scrum and Carreras crashed into the half after Antoine Hastoy kicked a penalty on the outside of France.
Les Bleus came back better from the break and were back in the lead with half an hour remaining when Pau team-mates Emilien Gailleton and Theo Attissogbe scored to make it 25-21.
Argentina’s hopes of a first win over France in five games were boosted when Les Bleus prop Georges-Henri Colombes was booked for a high tackle on Lucas Paulos with 23 minutes remaining.
The visitors made Colombes’ absence count as 25-year-old Gallo crossed twice, with Carreras converting one of the tries to make it 33-25 with 13 minutes remaining.
Colombes’ return to the pitch did not spark a comeback as Argentina looked positive for next weekend’s test in Montevideo against Uruguay and the upcoming Rugby Championship.
