Hooker reminds All Blacks of 2007 "ghosts"

Argentina's veteran hooker Mario Ledesma has joined the war of words ahead of the Pumas' clash with New Zealand on Sunday, reminding the tournament favourites of their shock quarter-final exit at the hands of France in Rugby World Cup 2007.

"If we have the ball in the first 15 minutes, they will have the karma of 2007, they have a few ghosts to lay to rest," he said.

Nicknamed “El Bocha”, the talkative Ledesma is at 38-years-old the most experienced player in the Argentine squad and knows how heavily the defeat at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff weighed on the New Zealanders who had been clear favourites going into the match.

"We have to be really sharp in the turnover, and then we have to keep the ball, slow down the game and set a pace that won’t benefit them," Ledesma said of the Pumas' strategy.

"We want them to get bored, annoyed and see the minutes tick by”, said the player who faced New Zealand in 1997, 2004 and 2006.

“We will do something similar to what we did against England. I don’t think we slowed down the game too much, and I think we managed to play in the zones where we wanted to play," added Ledesma who has been playing for French club Clermont Auvergne. He is retiring at the end of RWC 2011 and will take up a new challenge as forwards coach of Top 14 side Stade Français.

Mud preferred

The front rower believes the weather might play an important part in the match and was quick to point out the Pumas' preferred conditions. “I hope we will have 10cm of mud”, said Ledesma, clearly hoping that greater difficulty in ball handling would limit the All Blacks' play.

Ledesma was a member of the Argentine squad that won the Bronze medal in RWC 2007 to give the Pumas their best ever result in the RWC. But he feels that knocking out the All Blacks on Sunday would be a much greater achievement.

“Beating them here in a World Cup, when they have gone 24 years without winning the World Cup, I just don’t think any achievement could compete with that.

"Perhaps beating the All Blacks here in New Zealand in a final would be bigger. I’m very much looking forward to it and this is my last chance. I’m not going to let it slip away”, said Ledesma who, with 82 Tests to his name, is Argentina's most capped player.