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PARIS - Argentina skipper Agustin Pichot boasted that the Pumas' stunning 17-12 World Cup upset of France proved that his country deserves to be treated as one of the world's elite teams.
For a long time, the South Americans have been shunned as the poor relations of the world's top eight nations.
But Pichot insists Argentina are here to stay.
"This was a very important match not only because it was the first game of the World Cup but because until now Argentina has been left on the sidelines by world rugby," said the veteran scrum-half playing in his fourth World Cup.
"Tonight the message is that we exist, we are proud to be Argentinians.
"We aren't the best, we aren't the most technical, or the most physical but rugby is a game of the heart, of passion and of unity and we dream of playing in this shirt."
Pichot was also looking ahead to the next stage and hopefully going beyond their best World Cup performance of a quarter-final place at the 1999 tournament.
"World champions? We can always dream and I love to dream. But the reality is we must win our next game against Georgia (Sept 11).
"We know that as Latin players we can beat France but play badly in the next match. We are the only team who have to play twice in four days. It's not fair but that's the way it is."
Pichot, who won the French championship last season with Stade Francais, claimed the French buckled under the pressure on Friday.
"In the tunnel, I saw their faces and I could see they were petrified. They had a lot of pressure and that makes it very hard to play in such a tournament like this. They were under an obligation to win."
Fly-half Juan Martin Hernandez was also dreaming of the knock-out stages.
"To beat the French, it's like a dream," said Hernandez, who also won the French title with Stade but playing at fullback.
"We are happy but we won't stop here. We have to think of the future and I believe we have real possibilities in this tournament."
Argentina have grabbed pole position in a Pool D which also includes Six Nations Triple Crown winners Ireland as well as makeweights Georgia and Namibia.
Only the top two go through to the knockout round.
"In four days' time we will play Georgia and we have to keep going like this. Against Ireland (Sept 30) it will be another big match played at the same level.
"If we have the same attitude, things will be favourable for us."
Hernandez praised his teammates.
"We knew that France had a great defence," he said.
"But we put them under pressure and were always going forward. When they looked as if they didn't know what to do with the ball, we pressed."
- AFP
