The Wallabies' refusal to follow the Pom-bashing lead of the Australian Rugby Union's chief executive, John O'Neill, is down to their head coach, John Connolly. With a nickname like Knuckles, earned as a nightclub bouncer in Darwin years ago, Connolly might be expected to follow the example of his predecessor, Eddie Jones, who never wasted an opportunity to wind up the English. But far from resorting to insults, Connolly is adamant all that matters this week is Saturday's quarter-final.

Connolly refused to comment on O'Neill's outburst - the chief executive said it was natural for everyone to hate the English - and said: "I feel it is totally and utterly inappropriate for me to be derogatory about England and the English. I know it has been a feature of contests involving English and Australian sides in all sports in the past, but I spent a few years working in Bath and have some very good friends in England, the country my son was born in.

"I worked closely with England players such as Olly Barkley, Lee Mears, Steve Borthwick and Matt Stevens, as did our forwards coach, Michael Foley. I have the utmost respect for them, as I do for England's head coach, Brian Ashton. Michael and I learned a lot from our time there and I have fond memories of the place.

"We are preparing for our biggest game of the year. I desperately want us to beat England, not because of who they are but because they are standing between us and a place in the semi-finals, and that's what this Saturday is all about: a game of football. Both sides will be going flat out to win. There is no need to resort to sledging."

Connolly said before the start of the tournament that he expected England to mount a robust defence of their trophy, an opinion subsequent events have not changed. "They lost to South Africa, but they had problems at 10 and 12 that night which the return of Jonny Wilkinson has resolved. They have a strong tight five, their set-pieces are excellent, they drive mauls like no other side, they have great options in the back row and they have pace in the threequarters.

"They had a tough time after winning the World Cup, but that reflected some of the problems they had internally, such as the number of foreign players in the Premiership and club-country disputes. No one should ever doubt the talent England have at their disposal. I saw it at first hand when I was at Bath, and on their day they can beat any side in the world.

"People are saying that we are overwhelming favourites on Saturday; while I am happy with where we are, that viewpoint fails to recognise the quality and experience England have. It should be a great game."

When Connolly took over from Jones less than two years ago, Australia were struggling. They had lost eight games out of nine and were looking the runt of the Tri-Nations litter; within 16 months of his arrival, they had beaten the All Blacks for the first time since 2004 and they are now viewed as genuine contenders here.

Even if they win the tournament, Connolly will not reconsider his decision to stand down as head coach at the end of this month.

"I was offered a three-year contract, but I felt that doing the job for two years would be appropriate and I have not changed my mind on that," he said. "Our transformation is not down to me; we have put together a strong coaching team in Scott Johnson, Michael [ Foley] and John Muggleton and we have a top-rate squad of players. A huge amount of work has been put in, and while we were reasonably pleased with how we fared in our pool, the real test starts now."

White pleased with South African draw

South Africa coach Jake White says he is surprised at the way the draw has favoured them.

"If you had told me a couple of years ago that our last three games could be Fiji, Argentina and the World Cup final, I think anyone in South African rugby would take it," White told reporters yesterday.

"We've never lost to Argentina or Fiji, so we'll stick to what we've done in the past."

Tighthead prop CJ van der Linde could still be fit for Sunday's quarter-final against Fiji. Van der Linde was originally ruled out of the match on Tuesday after bruising a knee in training.