France have opted for Toulouse duo Romain Ntamack and Antoine Dupont as their half-back partnership to take on Argentina in Pool C's World Cup opener.

Ntamack, the 20-year-old son of former France international Emile, starts at 10, with Dupont, 22, picked ahead of Maxime Machenaud at scrum-half.

La Rochelle's Gregory Alldritt is preferred to Louis Picamoles at eight.

Nicolas Sanchez, who plays for Stade Francais, is at fly-half for Argentina, with Saracens' Juan Figallo at prop.

The third player in the Pumas' 31-man squad to play their club rugby outside Argentina - Castres' Benjamin Urdapilleta - is on the bench.

Bordeaux wing Santiago Cordero and Toulon number eight Facundo Isa were controversially left out of the squad by coach Mario Ledesma, who has depended on the home-based Jaguares squad that made the final of last season's Super Rugby tournament.

The match is a repeat of the 2007 tournament opener when Argentina upset France, who were the host nation, en route to the semi-finals, the same stage they reached in 2015.

Teams

France: Medard; Penaud, Fickou, Vakatawa, Huget; Ntamack, Dupont; Poirot, Guirado, Slimani, Iturria, Vahaamahina, Lauret, Ollivon, Alldritt

Replacements: Chat, Baille, Bamba, Le Roux, Picamoles, Machenaud, Lopez, Ramos

Argentina: Boffelli; Moroni, Orlando, De la Fuente, Moyano; Sanchez, Cubelli; Tetaz Chaparro, Creevy, Figallo, Petti, Lavanini, Matera (c), Kremer, Ortega Desio,

Replacements: Montoya, Vivas, Medrano, Alemanno, Lezana, Ezcurra, Urdapilleta, Carreras

What they said

France coach Jacques Brunel: "We have absolutely no doubt about Romain Ntamack's quality at fly-half - he's shown that this role doesn't scare him.

"The opening match is often decisive in setting the tone, but you must also not give it too much importance.

"The ideal is to win this game, but we can think that the three other matches will count until the end."

Argentina prop Juan Figallo: "It's always going to be tough and no match is easy. We have a chance to hit the ground running, so it's a key encounter for us.

"French rugby has a great league from which to draw many players. The 31 that made it are a great team led by an excellent coach."

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