There were a lot of bedraggled foreign tourists in Paris yesterday and England, watching the rain sluicing down the boulevards, have taken some precautions for the weekend.
Clive Woodward is determined to leave nothing to chance during this World Cup and the selection of the more experienced Paul Grayson ahead of Jonny Wilkinson at out-half for tomorrow's quarter-final encounter with South Africa is a sure sign of the sort of contest England are anticipating at the Stade de France.
Grayson's inclusion, despite the fact that he has started only one of his side's four previous outings in the tournament, is the most significant call in a starting XV showing five alterations from the Fiji match on Wednesday and four compared with the All Black game a fortnight ago.
Austin Healey, who like Wilkinson is fit enough to be on the bench, has lost out to Nick Beal on the right wing, Phil Greening has ousted Richard Cockerill at hooker and Phil de Glanville and Will Greenwood resume their centre partnership.
Danny Grewcock returns at lock, with Tim Rodber and Martin Corry offering useful back-up bulk.
But it is Grayson who has been handed the responsibility of ensuring England's chariot negotiates the most treacherous of hairpin bends. Having scored an England-record 36 points last time out, he will relish the chance to prove Woodward's contention that he has two world-class outhalves at his disposal.
Even so, the news will do much the same to Wilkinson's confidence as Greg Smith's shoulder did to his senses in the second half against Fiji. Not many sides in world rugby choose to rotate their number 10s if they wish to encourage consistency behind the scrum, and Wilkinson's defence is already a proven asset.
Woodward declined to expand on his selection, other than to stress that "everyone is fine and fully fit". He had made it clear on Thursday that he would not select players unless they were 100 per cent fit. "I don't think you can do anything else in international rugby these days," he said.
South Africa announced one enforced change from their strongest line-up, with the suspended Brendan Venter replaced at centre by Pieter Muller.
The Springboks are hardly short of incentive, not least the threat of losing their cherished "world champions" tag. "As someone said, it's so damn hard to win it, let's not give it back too easily," their coach Nick Mallett said yesterday. "There's a huge will to defend it. For us this is a final."
With Henry Honiball confined to the bench by his dodgy hamstring, much will rest on the control Jannie de Beer can engineer, assuming the forward battle is shared.
Some South African voices have suggested that this would have been a perfect occasion to draft Ruben Kruger into the back row but Mallett, having stuck his neck out over Bobby Skinstad when he named his squad, is not backing down now.
"I'm looking at the axis of Skinstad and (Joost) Van der Westhuizen to play well for our side and give us that game-breaking ability," he insisted.
Skinstad, though, will have to play like Superman to outplay his opposite number Lawrence Dallaglio, peerless to date and identified by Mallett as a key figure.
South Africa may know all about damp World Cup knockout games after their aquatic semifinal win over France in 1995, and will be confident of tired limbs among their opponents, but this is a game England fancy they can win.
England ended South Africa's record Test run at Twickenham last year and are a better side now, notwithstanding the "Robocop" jibe made by the Fijian coach Brad Johnstone. The only doubt remains their tendency to under perform in truly big games, but from numbers one to 22 their hunger is tangible.
It needs to be: in Francois Pienaar's autobiography, the former captain recalls a pre-match huddle against England in 1995 when the late Kitch Christie was standing in the circle between Pienaar and James Small.
"James and I squeezed the coach and, the team doctor told us later, fractured two of his ribs," recounted Pienaar.
Christie, needless to say, did not utter a syllable of complaint. The South Africans remain a proud, committed bunch but on this occasion they are bumping into 22 men with equal desire.
The Teams
ENGLAND: M Perry; N Beal, W Greenwood, P de Glanville, D Luger; P Grayson, M Dawson; J Leonard, P Greening, P Vickery, M Johnson (capt), D Grewcock, R Hill, N Back, L Dallaglio. Replacements: J Wilkinson, M Catt, A Healey, T Rodber, M Corry, D Garforth, R Cockerill.
SOUTH AFRICA: Kayser, R Fleck, P Muller, P Rossouw; J De Beer, J van der Westhuizen (capt); O Du Randt, N Drotske, C Visagie, K Otto, M Andrews, R Erasmus, A Venter, B Skinstad. Replacements: S Terblancag, H Honiball, W Swanepoel, A Voss, A van den Berg, O le Roux, C Rossouw.
Referee: J Fleming (Scotland)
