Brickie Ted building a concrete reputation

Inflicting the same "shock and awe" on France will be Sheridan's greatest rugby challenge because they have the two Sebastiens, Chabal and Bruno, in their squad - men who know all about "Big Ted" - his nickname at Sale Sharks.

Hooker Bruno and No8 Chabal are acutely aware of their 28-year-old clubmate's strengths and weaknesses and will have imparted this vital information to the French front row, who revel in the dark arts of their trade.

It means Sheridan is 80 minutes away from either cementing his reputation as a world-class scrum force or confirming that he still has some way to go to attain that status.

Philippe Saint-Andre, the former France captain, is Sale's director of rugby and he said: "Sheri and Chabal are really good friends and, of course, Bruno plays alongside him in our front row.

"Yes, they will be telling the other players about what he likes to do but Sheri is so strong and powerful at the moment.

"All they can do is try to close his space down and crowd him when he engages, but he is going to cause France a lot of trouble, that's for sure."

The England loose-head prop made the sport sit up and take notice earlier in the Cup when he gave South Africa real problems amid the wreckage of England's 36-0 pool drubbing at Stade de France and he returns to the same ground with an enormous weight of expectation on his big shoulders.

Peter Wheeler, the former England captain and hooker, has watched Sheridan's development closely and said: "It's fair to say Sheridan did not come into the World Cup having destroyed club front rows up and down the English game. Yes, he has a growing reputation as a strong forward, but he is still learning his trade.

"The Australia game was another brick in the reputation he is building, but he needs to prove that he is that good in a number of big games against a variety of teams and I am sure that Chabal has been telling his French team-mates about any perceived weaknesses."

Sheridan , born in Bromley and educated at Dulwich College, has learned to play the guitar and writes folk songs to prove he has a delicate side to his physical nature, which also manifests itself in a self-deprecating attitude towards his rugby success.

Having broken his ankle earlier this season and torn medial ligaments in his right knee - ruling him out of the summer tour to South Africa - Sheridan then missed the final warm-up Test with France in Marseille after being hospitalised and put on an intravenous drip to enable antibiotics to treat an insect bite. A less than spectacular Lions tour to New Zealand in 2005 hurt Sheridan's reputation, one built on stories of the prop bench-pressing more than 200kg in the Sale gym, and questions were raised about how effective a 6ft 4ins prop - which is unusually tall for the position - could be at Test level.

We are starting to see that Sheridan can get low enough to use brute strength and increasingly maturing technique to real effect in England's World Cup defence. Now come the French, and Sean Fitzpatrick, the former All Black captain and hooker, said: "Sheridan has a lot to offer away from the scrum with his line-out work and then the ball carrying.

"England have been missing someone like Sheridan in the team for three years, a player who can knock guys over and make the hard yards.

"He will be up against wily old heads in the scrum on Saturday and it's a much tougher proposition than the Wallabies but he will still be a force to be reckoned with."