Rugby Six Nations - France v England: Clive Woodward is not exactly flavour of the month across the English Channel these days. "Pompous", "irritable", "sarcastic" and "detestable" was the withering verdict on England's coach in the French sports daily L'Equipe this week, a list which betrays every Frenchman's desire to teach the world champions a lesson in humility this evening.
Even a skilled agent provocateur gets it wrong sometimes and, by insisting France would have lost their soggy World Cup semi-final by a wider margin had it been dry, Woodward has not done his side any favours. He was rather more diplomatic on the eve of battle yesterday but a cool, calm night is forecast and there is a strong sense of guillotines being quietly polished.
To avoid a vigorous pruning, the red-rose pack will certainly have to produce their best display of this Six Nations Championship. Although far stranger things have happened this season already, no visiting team has succeeded in winning a Test on French soil since Wales pulled off their startling 43-35 coup three years ago.
England have been beaten on two of their past three visits to the Stade de France and even in their Sydney pomp last November could not pierce a French defensive line who have leaked only 39 points in their four wins to date. Paris in the spring used to be a springboard for flamboyant natural flair; under Bernard Laporte solid rather than spectacular virtues are much more in vogue.
Should France collect a fourth grand slam in eight seasons and their second under Laporte's stewardship, it will also leave England's world-beaters languishing in third place in the European rankings only four months on from their greatest triumph. Nor is life destined to get any easier, with Woodward's men also braced for three Tests in New Zealand and Australia in June amid whispers that Jonny Wilkinson's recuperation from neck and shoulder surgery is not going as smoothly as he had hoped.
Woodward, perhaps significantly, would not discuss his absent outhalf yesterday, preferring to reiterate his faith in his youthful deputy Olly Barkley and repeat his own conviction that pre-match rhetoric matters little if the rugby turns out all right on the night.
"If you started to use what everyone said about England your team talks would go on for three days," he countered on the eve of his 80th test in charge, suggesting he was still "very confident" England would register the 60th victory of his tenure. "The only way you can judge international rugby is on how many games you win or lose. What people call you is totally irrelevant. Losing to Ireland was a bit of a shock to all of us . . . but, if we're brutally honest, this is the game we look forward to most."
This week, in consequence, an extra edge has attached itself to England's training and any cosy glow generated by the World Cup has gone. These two sides now know each other extremely well and there is widespread expectation of a titanic forward struggle, with England hopeful of pressurising the French scrumhalf Dimitri Yachvili into costly errors and France keen to re-examine the visitors' credentials at scrum and lineout.
No one is more aware than England of the pitfalls involved in tying up grand slams but home advantage would indicate a hard-fought French win rather than the minimum seven-point English victory necessary to poach the title.
Informed sources, meanwhile, say the England v France fixture will not conclude the 2005 championship schedule which, if true, is great news for the grand old tournament. Anglo-French rivalry is a key part of the Six Nations' special mix, as tonight's rousing occasion will underline, but it is not the solitary ingredient.
