KEY POINTS:
France will hope to get their seemingly endless search to win the World Cup for the first time off to the best possible start with victory over dark horses Argentina at the Stade de France tomorrow morning.
The hosts have twice been to the final, only to end up second best. This time there is a real sense they can give coach Bernard Laporte the perfect send-off before he takes up his duties as sports minister in the French Government.
France come into the tournament in great form, on the back of three victories in their three warm-up matches - two against titleholders England and one against Wales.
Argentina suffered a 27-20 defeat to Wales before pulling off a 36-8 win against a scratch Belgian international side which included several ex-French players.
But Argentina, who also kicked off the last World Cup with a defeat to hosts Australia, have been a bogey team for the French in recent times, with four wins in their last five clashes.
"We have to forget the past matches," said Pumas backrow forward Gonzalo Longo.
"This is the World Cup. It could go one way or the other."
France's veteran hooker and captain Raphael Ibanez acknowledges that they are up against a formidable opponent.
"We're on the right path. I hope that this will serve us well in the match against the Argentinians." He was also keen to highlight the strong points of the Argentina side. The Pumas had a "strong maul", he said.
"They are also great at lineouts and they have some exceptional players in the backline: Agustin Pichot, Felipe Contepomi and Juan Hernandez. It's a dangerous team.
"We respect them because they are formidable in the physical challenge. They are well bonded because they're 'mates'. They live far from their homes. That makes them stronger than if they formed a real community."
While France enter the match with a fully fit squad, that has not been the case for Argentina, who lost two key players, including winger Martin Gaitan, to heart trouble.
But their halfback and captain Agustin Pichot said that had not damaged morale.
"The atmosphere in the squad is positive. We have had a lot of injuries but that's in the past."
And if the French had any doubts about the motivation of the Pumas then hooker Mario Ledesma will have set them aside.
"We have worked differently. We had two weeks physical preparation in Florida in July. We said we would explode on September 7. I hope we will be proved right."
- AFP
