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Fires stoked under play-off clash

Clément Poitrenaud: Ready to prove a point

It may be meaningless to most - Argentina captain Agustin Pichot barely acknowledged it after his team's semi-final defeat - but there's plenty of passion simmering ahead of the 3/4 place play-off match between France and Argentina on Friday.

A war of words has broken out between the two camps, with each insisting the other has the more negative style and will ruin Friday's match.

Argentina hold the upper hand, having beaten the hosts 17-12 in the World Cup opener in Paris five and a half weeks ago, and the prospect of a re-match, which will also feature a number of French players who did not play that night, has got the blood going.

Pumas centre Felipe Contempomi, who has not been short of a word or two on and off the pitch during the tournament, kick-started the contretemps by suggesting that France had given up their penchant for 'champagne rugby'.

That drew an angry response from free-running full-back Clément Poitrenaud, who pointed out that the Pumas were not exactly full of free-spirited genius themselves.

"He wants to talk to me about champagne rugby?" said Poitrenaud to AFP.

"They have been relying just on mauls and up-and-unders. They need to stop mouthing off."

"The only player capable of champagne rugby in the Argentinian team is (fly-half) Juan Martin Hernandez."

Some in the French team said after that first night defeat that the Pumas hadn't really shown anything great in their approach to the game.

Fiery Argentinian skipper Agustin Pichot, who plays his club rugby in France, was having none of it.

"The French cannot criticise us. They have massacred us by claiming that we hadn't played. It's incredible."