French No.8 'despises' England
France number eight Imanol Harinordoquy claims he is determined to beat England in his side's RBS Six Nations Championship opener because he "despises" them.
The two sides go head to head at Twickenham on February 15 in a game that has already been billed as the championship decider.
But Harinordoquy has now 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 told Rugby World: "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, claims his past experiences of playing against international sides are the only motivation he needs ahead of the Twickenham visit.
He added: "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."
