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World Cup
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England-France World Cup semi-final: Le Crunch!

By Louise Catier & Julia Chevreton
10/10/2007

Two nations are getting ready for the Saturday’s summit fixture: France-England Rugby World Cup semi-final. This fixture is traditionally qualified as “le crunch” since not only it is offering a place for the Rugby World Cup 2007’s final but above all because French and British teams are considered like the two best teams of the Northern Hemisphere and are always promising high intensity matches.

Let’s start with the line-up for the two teams:

England team:

France team:

1 Andrew Sheridan
2 Mark Regan
3 Phil Vickery (c)
4 Simon Shaw
5 Ben Kay
6 Martin Corry
7 Lewis Moody
8 Nick Easter
9 Andy Gomarsall
10 Jonny Wilkinson
11 Josh Lewsey
12 Mike Catt
13 Mathew Tait
14 Paul Sackey
15 Jason Robinson

1 Olivier Milloud
2 Raphaël Ibanez (c)
3 Pieter de Villiers
4 Fabien Pelous
5 Jérôme Thion
6 Serge Betsen
7 Thierry Dusautoir
8 Julien Bonnaire
9 Jean-Baptiste Elissalde
10 Lionel Beauxis
11 Cédric Heymans
12 Yannick Jauzion
13 David Marty
14 Vincent Clerc
15 Damien Traille

Replacements:

Replacements:

16 George Chuter
17 Matt Stevens
18 Lawrence Dallaglio
19 Joe Worsley

20 Peter Richards
21 Toby Flood
22 Dan Hipkiss

16 Dimitri Szarzewski
17 Jean-Baptiste Poux
18 Sébastien Chabal
19 Imanol Harinordoquy
20 Frédéric Michalak
21 Clément Poitrenaud
22 Christophe Dominici


Here you could find the key figures regarding France-England fixtures:


International Matches:  89
England victories: 47 (53%)
France victories: 35 (39%)
Draws: 7 (8%)

79

2 March 2002

Stade de France, Saint-Denis

France - England

20-15

Six Nations

80

15 February 2003

Twickenham, London

England - France

25-17

Six Nations

81

30 August 2003

Stade Vélodrome, Marseille

France - England

17-16

Friendly

82

6 September 2003

Twickenham, London

England - France

45-14

Friendly

83

16 November 2003

Telstra Dome, Melbourne

England - France

24-7

World Cup

84

27 March 2004

Stade de France, Saint-Denis

France - England

24-21

Six Nations

85

13 February 2005

Twickenham, London

England - France

17-18

Six Nations

86

12 March 2006

Stade de France, Saint-Denis

France - England

31-6

Six Nations

87

11 March 2007

Twickenham, London

England - France

26-18

Six Nations

88

11 August 2007

Twickenham, London

England - France

15-21

Friendly

89

18 August 2007

Stade Vélodrome, Marseille

France - England

22-9

Friendly



But what are actually the targets of this longed-for 'crunch'?
This World Cup is the last one for French captain Raphael Ibanez and Head Coach Bernard Laporte, therefore they are under pressure because they probably feel that a victory is their duty. For the English team, it has to show the world that it is still the best in the world.

Yet, if the dream of victory is clearly visible on the both sides, the outcome of this Saturday's clash is not so forseeable.  If we take a careful look at the week's sportnews and analysis, no team appears to have a clear advantage, and neither the English nor the French can be sure to reach the dreamed final.
 "There is little between the two teams and I will be very surprised if it is a high-scoring game" said Franck Mesnel, the French former rugbyman who created the famous Edenpark brand.

 What makes the English team's strength is clearly its half-back pairing of Andy Gomarsall and Jonny Wilkinson which appears as its driving force. France would absolutely have to beat it in order to win. Furthermore, even if the French team won the last two France-England fixtures, the Red Rose team won the most strategic ones, notably the World cup semi-final 4 years ago, which already confronted the both teams!

"Les bleus" have nevertheless other advantages. The French team indeed plans to keep the same strategy that leads it to the victory against the invincible All Blacks on Saturday 6th October. Keeping the same winning team, with Sebastien Chabal amongst them. Their succes against New-Zealand revealed more than a victorious game plan, it really boosted the French players' moral and self-confidence.
Finally, as the clash will take place in the Stade de France in Paris, the support for the French team is sure to be also a sizeable factor, which could benefit the XV de France. Even if their fans,  could also add to their existing pressure.

Whatever the winner, this semi-final France-England promises to be an historical event in the Rugby World Cup history and the craze that it is provoking is an obvious proof.  The atmosphere is sure to be very hot this Saturday, regardless of the weather, as the fans for each team are already making their way to Paris. Thousands of English fans are even expected in Paris this Weekend to watch the match. They don't really care if they have tickets or not, they just want to be part of it and will be watching it on TV in local bars and giant screens.



The match will be broadcasted on a big screen in Le Bistrot at the French Institute.

We would like to thank Pierre from London French RFC for his help.
Click here for more information about RWC 2007

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