Hernandez happy to be a humble hero as a country hails its new star

Another Argentine No 10 has been dubbed the world's best. But, the fly-half tells Hugh Godwin in Paris, similarities with Maradona end off the field

Argentina's young contender for the world's best rugby player – if you listened to certain South Africans this week, he has made it already – is not interested in football-style notoriety. Juan Martin Hernandez has seen close up the head-spinning turmoil suffered by Diego Maradona and this oval-ball maestro is quite content with what he described yesterday as his sport's "amateur and romantic" version of fame. Of course the people at home following Los Pumas' every move now they have reached a World Cup semi-final against the Springboks tomorrow may beg to differ.

Hernandez, the guiding light at fly-half in Argentina's run to the last four, shares more with Maradona than a Buenos Aires birthplace and the sky-blue and white No 10 jersey. Patricio Hernandez, Juan Martin's uncle, was a midfield understudy to Diego during the 1982 football World Cup in Spain. Maradona was sent off for a wild hack against Brazil and the many twists and turns his career and personal life have taken since are well documented. Argentina's rugby exploits of late have been such that the kick-off of last Sunday's capital derby between Boca Juniors – Maradona's beloved Boca – and River Plate was moved back to allow fans to watch coverage of the Pumas beating Scotland in the quarter-final here.

"To be honest, no, I wouldn't like Diego's fame," said Hernandez at the Pumas' lakeside hotel north of Paris. "Football stars do not have a nice life outside the sport, outside the stadium. Rugby is another thing, we have an amateur spirit and it would be good to stay with that feeling, that romanticism. Of course I'm glad people are talking about me but it doesn't change anything. I am fundamentally a quiet person."

So much for fame but as for fortune, Hernandez, who has been playing for the wealthy Stade Français for four years, could be due a nice pay rise.

Stade's owner, Max Guazzini, is keen to keep his prized asset, and though Leicester would like to whisk the 25-year-old off to the Premiership, the suspicion is that with Hernandez under contract, the price may be too high. Tigers have been tracking their man since a curious aborted attempt to sign him in 2003. Hernandez, then 20, came to England for a trial with a tourist visa in his hand, about £100 in his pocket and no credit card. Customs officials smelled a rat – deducing perhaps that Leicester was an unlikely tourist destination from Buenos Aires – and after 12 hours' questioning Hernandez was given a week to leave the country.

Leicester's loss was Stade Français' gain. Though deployed at full-back rather than his position while growing up of fly-half, Hernandez has been a hit in Paris. He has a comfortable flat in the Bois de Boulogne a drop-kick or two from the Parc des Princes. Hernandez was a bit-part player in the 2003 tournament but in this one he has supplanted Felipe Contepomi – switched to inside centre to accommodate him – and after featuring prominently in the opening-day win over France, a dropped goal off his apparently weaker left foot helped do for the Scots.

The situation today, according to Hernandez, is that the man described by his Springbok opposite number Butch James as "the best player in the world" has no idea which club he will play for after the World Cup. "I don't know yet, I have a big week ahead, which is more important," Hernandez said. And in decent English to go with his native Spanish and fluent French, and cutting a relaxed figure in a blue v-neck sweater, he elaborated politely. "To tell you the truth nothing is solved. I didn't speak with the president [of Stade] and I didn't speak with any other club yet. I think they are being respectful until the World Cup is finished."

The Leicester connection was part-forged by Les Cusworth, the former Tigers fly-half who has been a long-term Pumas adviser. Hernandez's lithe movements in attack bely his 6ft 1in frame, and he showed his defensive quality at Welford Road last season with a biter-bit of a tackle on the mighty Alesana Tuilagi. He also skipped through half of Leicestershire for a try; to kick off this World Cup his garryowens rained down on Cédric Heymans.

"Our kicking game has worked for us," Hernandez said. "We are here in the final four because we don't play in our half, and let our opponents score with penalties or whatever. Long kicks, not giving line-outs in our own half – it's no secret, it's good tactics." He is equally forthright that fly-half is his best position.

"As No 10 if your team goes well or goes wrong it is because of you. I like this responsibility. If things go OK it makes me happier. I was comfortable there for Argentina's Under-19s and 21s, and in my short Buenos Aires club career. Since then I have developed in other positions, centre and wing as well as full-back. It helped me a lot – not with opportunities at first to be the Pumas' fly-half – but to know which lines the other players are running. "Felipe [Contepomi] is the senior player and we're complementing each other well."

Those who know Hernandez, who is on a five-man shortlist for the IRB's player of the year, say the demands of sport come easy to this son of a PE teacher. "Juani" is also the younger brother of a double Olympic hockey medallist, Maripi. "My old club at home is in the second division," Hernandez said, "and this month I've heard lots of fathers are taking their young sons along there. It's happening around the country and it's good for rugby's development." The new star's approach is that good enough is never enough. A driven man, maybe, but a long way from the madness of Maradona.