Argentina revitalised their hopes of progressing from Pool D with a mammoth victory over Samoa in Saint-Etienne, Emiliano Boffelli inspiring the Pumas to their first win.

Four hard-earned points fire them right back into qualification contention with Samoa left to stew on their first loss of the tournament.

Knowing a win was essential to hopes of the knockout rounds, Argentina were handed an early boost in the form a man advantage with the in-form Duncan Paia’aua sin binned inside thirty seconds for interfering with ball catcher, fly-half, Santiago Carreras and catching him late.

With the Samoans stranded in their own twenty-two, the Pumas pounced in the ninth minute, quick, incisive passing creating an overload out wide right.

There, the wingers combined as Mateo Carreras fed Emiliano Boffelli who drifted inside and bulldozed in, extending out to score a try, which he himself converted for the perfect start for Michael Cheika’s men.

In rampant rain, conditions looked to adversely impact Christian Leali’ifano, his first kick drifting wide as Samoa sought a swift reply.

Despite the drizzle, Boffelli bolstered Argentina up into double digits with a monster penalty midway through the opening half.

Leali’ifano then found his range with a meaty kick of his own, aided on its way over by the crossbar, the margin cut back to seven points.

Incessant Pumas pressure resulted in an agonisingly near second score, they did though re-establish the ten-point buffer with Boffelli’s second penalty.

Samoa upped the physicality, pinning Argentina back on the brink of the break, an uncharacteristic Leali’ifano miss and a pivotal knockon instead left them frustrated and no further on points-wise.

An immaculately executed catch and drive move with Boffelli diving over, it looked like Argentina’s lead had grown but referee, Nic Berry, disallowed the score for a double movement, reprieving Samoa who had been stifled since the start of the second half.

They contented themselves for a further three, reward for their dominance as Boffelli continued to build his tally of points.

As the benches were emptied, Boffelli blasted a long-range kick just wide, but the fact remained that Samoa were badly struggling to get at all going, although an unlikely try could have swung the momentum.

Counterattacking from deep, Fritz Lee knocked on with acres of empty grass ahead of him, Samoa’s chance of consistent pressure cheaply squandered.

The rain eased but handling errors remained as the game became scrappy and continually riddled by mistakes, Argentina desperate to score a second but lacking the calm cohesion to get it.

Five minutes from time, Samoa got the lifeline they craved as replacement hooker, Sama Malolo made it three tries in two Rugby World Cup games, bustling over unstoppably and quickly converted by fellow substitute, Angelo Luila.

That brought them to within a converted try of stealing victory but knowing that they needed the ball, Argentina kept composed and hogged it, earning a penalty.

Experienced replacement, Nicolas Sanchez emphatically sent it sailing through the sticks to seal a Pumas victory and deny Samoa a losing bonus point, as the Pumas revived their bid to reach the last eight.

Next, Samoa take on Japan on Thursday night in Toulouse (8pm KO).  Argentina are in action again two days later in Nantes at the Stade de La Beaujoire (2pm KO).