French rugby star condemns 'arrogant' English

France number eight Imanol Harinordoquy claims he is determined to beat England in his side's Six Nations Championship opener…

France number eight Imanol Harinordoquy claims he is determined to beat England in his side's Six Nations Championship opener because he "despises" them.

The two sides go head to head at Twickenham on February 15th in a game that has already been billed as the championship decider.

Harinordoquy (22) 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!

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"And as long as we beat England I wouldn't mind if we lost every other game in the Six Nations," Harinordoquy said.

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".

PA