I hope against England it is fine and not too windy "When you are not playing well people question your age,'' Martin Johnson, the 33-year-old captain, said. "Age is not a factor.''England have had three hard games, against South Africa, Samoa and Wales, the latter in a quarter-final in which they conceded three tries and scored one. But for a 14-point swing in the space of a few minutes in the second half when Gareth Cooper dropped a try-scoring pass and then failed to find touch, initiating the move that led to Will Greenwood's try, Wales would have won. That tells you a lot about the Welsh, and even more about the English. Woodward describes the situation as "perplexing", which makes solving the problem all the more difficult "We are not Torvill and Dean. You cannot be a Rolls-Royce every week.''In fact, England have not been getting stronger game by game, perhaps even the reverse, and have been performing more like a Renault Espace than a Rolls-Royce. They are an outstanding group of players but they are just not playing well It happens, it's not a perfect world. We are playing some pretty average rugby at the moment and still winning. I think that is sheer bloody-mindedness and the will of the team. We have no doubt England can win this game but we will have to improve dramatically, and to do that we just need to keep a cool head and sort one or two things out.''Woodward had spent the day studying videos, France v Ireland and England v Wales "We weren't quite as bad as I thought,'' he said "But we have got to step up a gear We've got one chance, there's no hiding place here That's the good thing about it What's done is done, but we have played five, won five England are getting stronger game by game. Unless England can rediscover the form that won them the Grand Slam and famous victories in New Zealand and Australia in the summer they will slip up in the biggest game of their lives. "We are very unhappy with the way we have been playing,'' Woodward said "We are certainly not at our best Every-one is aware of that, all the team, every individual It is important we don't overreact Now is the time for us to be very, very strong. Clive Woodward said it so often and so vehemently people began to believe him England would beat France to reach the World Cup final. He may be right, but thus far his team have provided little evidence to support the claim, and their contribution to the party has been more that of a wallflower than the country ranked No 1 in the world. I hope against England it is fine and not too windy.''Galthi?asn't around when Les Bleus lost the inaugural World Cup final to New Zealand in 1987 but he cannot forget losing to the Wallabies in the climax four years ago As he was speaking, in Sydney, the sun appeared..
"Sometimes good, sometimes bad, some days rainy, some days sunny. There's always fear there, but I will go out and counter it with courage. This could be my last game but it is not an obsession for me.''France appear to be at home on Bondi Beach, which doesn't have a lot in common with Slough "Our team are like the weather,'' Galthi?dded. There are so many factors that have to come together to make it a reality but in the end you just have to believe in your destiny I believe in my destiny. I hardly dare think about it, but something tells me that perhaps the best is still to come.''As you might have guessed, Fabien is something of a philosopher. |
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