War of words between camps

Third place play-off/ France v Argentina: Were it a heavyweight boxing fight for some obscure title, with the distinctive coiffure of Don King lurking in the background, you would almost certainly presume it to be an attempt to boost ticket sales.

All the more so in this instance, as it's the most disposable match of any World Cup, namely the third/fourth place play-off between two beaten semi-finalists experiencing a crushing sense of anti-climax who would rather just go home.

Of course, in France's case this is not possible, as they are the hosts. But, this being the first time two countries have met for the second time in the same World Cup - to be followed by a renewal of hostilities between South Africa and England 24 hours later - unsurprisingly there's some ill-feeling arising from Argentina's opening-night 17-12 win over France.

That result did more than anything to alter the shape of the draw, giving South Africa a route past Fiji and Argentina into the final and effectively re-routing France to Cardiff in the half featuring three former winners.

In any event, a peculiar war of words has broken out between the two camps, with each insisting the other has the more negative style and will spoil this rather meaningless match.

Felipe Contepomi instigated the contretemps by suggesting that France had given up their penchant for 'champagne rugby'.

"He wants to talk to me about champagne rugby?" sniffed Clement Poitrenaud, the Toulouse fullback restored to the team after being one of the victim's of Bernard Laporte's strategy.

"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 (outhalf) Juan Martin Hernandez."

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

Venue: Parc des Princes Kick-off: 8.0 On TV: Setanta Ireland, TV3, TV5Monde

FRANCE: Poitrenaud; Rougerie, Marty, Skrela, Dominici; Michalak, Elissalde; Poux, Ibanez, De Villiers, Nallet, Thion, Nyanga, Dusautoir, Harinordoquy. Replacements: Bruno, Mas, Chabal, Martin, Mignoni, Beauxis, Clerc.

ARGENTINA: Corleto; Aramburu, M Contepomi, F Contepomi, Agulla; JM Hernandez, Pichot; Roncero, Vernet Basualdo, Hasan, Alvarez Kairelis, Albacete, Durand, JM Fernandez Lobbe, Longo Elia. Replacements: Ayerza, Guinazu, Lozada, Leguizamon, Fernandez Miranda, Todeschini, Senillosa.