Despite Argentina's heartbreaking two-point first-up loss to France reducing their chances of making the quarterfinals, head coach Mario Ledesma refused to talk down his team's Rugby World Cup prospects.

The Los Pumas legend played through plenty of ups and downs in his 84 test match, four World Cup-spanning playing career but even he seemed a little miffed at the Jekyll and Hyde performance his team delivered at Tokyo Stadium (Ajinomoto Stadium) on Saturday.

"Because they had the momentum, we were not able to give a good defensive performance (in the first half) and I feel bad about that. However, in the second half we didn't make those sort of mistakes at all," he said.

(Argentina head coach Mario Ledesma prior to the 2019 Rugby World Cup Pool C match between France and Argentina.) [Sportsfile/Getty/Kyodo]

From 20-3 down after 40 minutes, Argentina made an incredible second-half charge, scoring two tries out of the rolling maul and adding two penalties to take the lead, 21-20 in the 68th minute.

Unfortunately for the South Americans, French replacement fullback Camille Lopez slotted a drop-goal and Emiliano Boffelli missed a long, wide 79th-minute penalty that would have snatched the win.

"We were playing on the front foot. Physicality, quick ball, dominating at the scrum and lineout, driving maul, kicking better and not missing tackles, and that's what rugby is about," said Ledesma when explaining how his team came back.

According to the Rugby News Service, had Argentina managed to hold on and overcome their 17-point deficit, it would have been a World Cup record, bettering the 15-point lead Romania overhauled against Canada in 2015.

Ledesma was not shy in pointing out that two refereeing decisions played a big role, highlighting one play in which he thought Louis Picamoles was clearly offside and another deep in French territory when he said they should have been awarded a penalty for a ruck infringement.

"If the referee made different decisions, we might have had a different result," he said. "I am not forgetting what we did in the first half, but they were clear game-changing decisions."

But all is not lost as far as Ledesma is concerned. With Pool C containing England, the United States and Tonga, there are plenty of permutations that could play out.

"I don't think this is the game that will decide whether we go to the knockout stage," he said.

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