Harinordoquy: 'I despise England'

Imanol Harinordoquy, the France No 8, has said that he is determined to beat England in the Six Nations' Championship opener because he "despises" them.

The two sides meet at Twickenham on 15 February in a game that has been billed as the championship decider. But Harinordoquy has fanned the flames of an already potentially explosive encounter with an outburst in which he claims the English are "arrogant and chauvinistic".

The 22-year-old said: "The only memories I have of England and the English are unpleasant ones. As far as the English are concerned, I have decided to adopt the same attitude as them: I despise them as much as they despise everybody else. And as long as we beat England I wouldn't mind if we lost every other game in the Six Nations."

Harinordoquy, who burst on the scene last year, said his past experiences of playing against England are the only motivation he needs before the Twickenham visit. He said: "When I first played against England last year, I came to the game with an intense personal motivation because, every time I had played against English teams in my youth, I found it extremely unpleasant.

"They are so chauvinistic and arrogant. They look down on everybody and in one particular under-21s game I found the attitude of the players and spectators intolerable."

Yet Harinordoquy admitted last week that England are Les Tricolores' toughest opponents. "The English have perfected the art of keeping the ball and we had to defend a lot against them last year," he recalled. "They can move the play in any direction – you never know which way they will go. They are superbly organised."

But he was full of praise for his own side. After claiming the Grand Slam with a thumping victory over Ireland, France were narrowly defeated last summer in Argentina and twice in close contests in Australia. But they comfortably disposed of South Africa and had the better of a drawn game against New Zealand during the autumn to underline their credentials for the year ahead.

"This French team has made enormous strides," Harinordoquy said. "A year ago, we followed the ball like a flock of sheep, but we have progressed a lot since then. We proved we can maintain a high level of performance and our objective is to win the tournament again and win every match if possible.

"We have a strong spirit, a good mix of younger and older players and have taken confidence from winning matches. We no longer fear playing the All Blacks or England. We have the ability to compete with these teams and beat them."