FRANCE have already suffered their biggest embarrassment as hosts of the 2007 World Cup. In the greatest upset in the tournament's history since France defeated New Zealand in the 1999 semi-final at Twickenham, the Tricolores shamed their nation by losing the opening match to Argentina 17-12 at Stade de France on Friday night.
France are now under serious threat of missing the quarter-finals, especially as they have been drawn in the most difficult of the four groups. And such a dreadful start by France has cast a pall over the tournament, which needs the home nation to do well for the World Cup to have a presence in the hearts and minds of the locals.
If France continue to play such mindless and juvenile football as they did against the highly physical Pumas, they will be easy pickings for group rivals Ireland and become the first World Cup host nation to suffer the ignominy of not being part of the finals mix.
Maybe the French team were distracted by a very strange opening ceremony that will be remembered as a tribute to testosterone. For 15 minutes a large group of men, dressed in what we think were space suits, cavorted around the ground, jumping, dancing, wrestling and doing somersaults to crazed drumming.
There was a lot of running around by people in funny hats, while spruikers tried to get the crowd involved. They didn't.
None of it made much sense, somewhat like the French team performance. But enormous credit has to be given to Argentina. They devised a simple plan to upset the French, revolving around muscling up against them, endlessly putting up high balls in the hope of unnerving the outside backs, and repeatedly hassling them at the breakdown.
Captain Agustin Pichot masterfully kept the pressure on and France, who never led during the game, should have been beaten by more.
Once again the 33-year-old proved that he is clearly the best halfback in international rugby by winning endless loose ball, irritating countless opponents with his midfield snipes, grabbing intercepts, and being in the right place at the right time. Constantly lurking alongside him were several fierce forwards who stalled any French momentum.
The Pumas went to an unexpected 14-3 lead on the half-hour mark, after scoring the only try of the game. Argentina fullback Ignacio Corleto was on the end of a movement that began with an intercept from one of the many flaky French passes.
France gradually narrowed the gap and on occasions looked dangerous, especially when they got their driving maul to work early in the second half. The French pack marched about 35 metres towards the Argentina line in the 46th minute and then attempted a succession of drives at the line. It appeared inevitable they would score but Argentina eventually won a turnover.
France had too many big names missing on such an important occasion and relied too much on too few, including fullback Cedric Heymans, who performed well under the high ball but received little support.
France were eerily off their game, and Paris was eerily quiet last night.

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