Corry: We'll make the French weep

The French will be at full strength for Saturday's semi-final here with flanker Serge Betsen declaring himself fit today despite having been knocked senseless in the their quarter-final win over favourites New Zealand.

The entire host nation is confidently mobilised behind Les Bleus. But, instead of being cowed by the prospect of taking on the fired-up hosts in their own back-yard, the England flanker today predicted the defending champions will feed off the nationalistic fervour and produce another shock.

Corry, an unused replacement when England beat Australia in the 2003 Final, epitomised England's heroic forward performance against the Wallabies in the 12-10 win in Marseille and is ready to put his body on the line again.

He said: "France will have the whole nation behind them and the way we have developed as a squad means this situation will suit us.

"We have taken a lot of justified heat during this tournament and it's brought us closer together. It's been a big part of what we have achieved but this is a hugely different prospect because this is France, in the semi-finals, on their own soil.

"Rugby is getting harder and harder to predict and the way we won the quarter-final probably won't win us the semi. We have to find a way of playing that works against France."

The two teams have already met three times this year, with England claiming the spoils in the Six Nations and the French claiming two World Cup warm-up wins, but Corry claimed those results would have no bearing on Saturday's game.

He said: "Form and history counts for absolutely nothing and it comes down to who turns up and produces the best rugby on the day.

"We have played them three times and both teams will be tinkering with their game plans but I don't believe those [three] matches will have any bearing on Saturday.

"We have to improve a lot and that can be done in a week. Look at how much better we were after playing Tonga."

Like England, France have reported a clean bill of health following the weekend's quarterfinals.

Betsen, who was injured after only five minutes on Saturday, was the home side's main concern but said: "I watched the rest of the match in peace. The pain was a lot less on Sunday and everything is now fine."

Prop Olivier Milloud did not reappear for the second half because of a neck injury but is also fit to play. "Things are going a lot better," he said today.