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And so it’s here, time for the England v France Rugby World Cup 2007 Semi-Final that few would have predicted at any stage of proceedings.

Who would have thought? Both the Aussies and the Kiwis headed home after the quarter finals despite being clear favourites over their less flamboyant Six-Nations Rugby Union counterparts. As with the last game, its time for a preview (it seemed to do the job last week!).

Where England could form a clear game-plan against the Australians – they only really had one option (briefly: scrum hard, go through phases, penalty points & field position – avoid Australian backs at all costs!) – the French are a different proposition altogether: their forwards will not disappear under the English scrummage.

So what kind of game can we expect?

England, from 1-10 have an extremely good, experienced, well-drilled and coherent rugby union football team. Unfortunately, they also have arguably the worst 11, 12 ,13 and 14 still in the tournament. It is their achiles heel, and the French know all about it, having exposed it most recently in a curtain-raiser for the RWC which they won with relative ease.

France, too, have a poor back-line, by theirextremely high standards. We’ve seen French sides throughout the years with flamboyance galour. However, this year’s side are much more steady. There is only one player who can produce something magical from out of the blue: one Monsieur Frederick Michalak.

The Battle of the 10s

Michalak is France’s number 10, who’s opposite man is of course the brilliant Jonny Wilkinson – both of them are brilliant, but in opposite ways. Wilkinson is a very steady, traditional number ten, who likes to shift the ball, by boot or with a pass. He’ll look for touch, or move the ball through the centres. Michalak is a different animal. He’ll try something different every time: a chip, a kick to a winger, a grubber, a solo run – anything!

Wilkinson is also a phenomenal goal-kicker, though this World Cup is probably the poorest he has ever been in an England shirt – by his own standards, I hasten to add, as anyone else would be proud to have made the contributions he has. Wilkinson is the number 1 points scorer in RWC history too. And perhaps it is a disservice to call him steady, as he got 7 points instead of three with some excellent quick thinking at a penalty in the match against Fiji by kicking it out wide when all were waiting for a kick at goal.

It will be interesting to see who comes out on top, though don’t expect them tearing lumps out of each other – it will be crafty, deft touches with the boot, or long spun out passes from these two. They won’t be smashing into each other too often. Its not their game.

Where & When

The match kicks off at 21:00 (CET – so 20:00 UK time – or 5am Eastern Time here in Australia!) and takes place in the Stade De France, St Denis.

Predictions

For the second week running, I’m going to predict an English loss, and hope that it won’t happen. I’d expect the French to at least hold their own in the scrummage and at the breakdown with a tougher and more experienced pack than the Australians have. Their back-line, though weaker than previous years, is better than England’s, and should score at least one five-pointer.

England will have to play much similar tactics to those they employed so effectively last week, except they’ll have to kick more points, and will probably need to get a try, which is most likely to come from a Jason Robinson (aka “Billy Whiz”, who is playing his 50th match for England) slippery dart through the back line, or a 12th phase forward push-over.

The two teams are reasonably even, except for in midfield, where England are clearly second best. France also have the back-row giant bearded monster, Sébastien Chabal, who destroyed England’s backs with the ball in hand to score a try in that curtain raiser a couple of months ago. This man is huge for France, and almost talismanic. He probably won’t last a full 80 minutes, but he’ll certainly get on, and lift the team. If he runs at Matthew Tait, England have to be worried!

Hopefully, we’ll be treated to another excellent game of rugby. Both of these sides have demonstrated their spirit and ability (both coming back from poor defeats – South Africa and Argentina – to beat much more respected Southern Hemisphere opponents at the business end of the tournament). It should be a great Rugby World Cup Semi-Final. There are no chokers on this pitch, no way, it will be a battle to the death, with the strongest willed winning.

Prediction – a great battle, with few examples of flowing rugby. France to win by 7 points.

See the England v France semi-final RWC 2007 match review here.