QUARTER-FINALS ENGLAND v FRANCE:FRANCE MADE their team announcement in a box, a small space in their hotel guaranteed to paint a sheen on the brows of the many present. Would Marc Lievremont raise the temperature with his selection for the quarter-final against England and leave everyone sopping?

He played it cool, relieved to pick his number one tighthead prop Nicolas Mas, who had been out with a leg strain. He reassuringly put Imanol Harinordoquy at number eight, and was pleased to say that Aurelien Rougerie in the centre would be fit to play despite injuring a shoulder against Tonga.

He then jacked up the thermostat with his half-back pairing of Dimitri Yachvili and Morgan Parra. The experiment lives on: two scrumhalves, with Parra at number 10, just as he was against the All Blacks on the night it all went horribly wrong for France. Or started to go wrong, because after that they only went and lost to Tonga, with Parra at outhalf again.

There was also the question of mutiny in the camp. “I am sorry that I had to say some harsh things to get the team motivated,” said Lievremont. “But stress and pressure are part of the World Cup. I say things – I get them out of my system in order to bounce back.”

The coach gave way to four players, Maxime Mermoz, Parra, Harinordoquy and Mas. To say that they were in a giving mood might be to exaggerate their contributions, but this is, after all, the week of the quarter-final.

Was there anything in particular about playing against England, Mermoz was asked. “Rien de particulier” was the sum of what he said. “I love England,” joked Harinordoquy, who has lost in two World Cup semi-finals to them. He did not promise that there would be much rugby played. “Lots of fight, lots of kicking maybe.”

Perhaps he did not mean fight as in fighting; just lots of collisions. But you never know.

And what about the troubles in the French camp? The mighty Basque suggested he is not at his best when not in the starting line-up, but that he has no problem with anything the coach might say, “as long as it remains in the room”.

Since that had not been the case with Lievremont, who cannot help but rage when things go wrong – so he has been in full ranting mode in New Zealand – he was perhaps making the point that he did have a problem. The more important point, however, was that he did not want to “remuer la merde (stir the shit)” all over again, because the only thing that matters is this game against England.

“Our World Cup starts now,” he said firmly. “You can say all the words in the world, but now is the time for action.”

Parra was asked if he thought there were any consequences of Lievremont’s public criticism of his players in the press? “You have your job to do,” he said. “We will see if we can do ours on Saturday.”

This was four days before the game, with a whole world of words to be written on one of the grudge matches of rugby. France may need to spend some time in a nice big cool room before they go to work at the weekend.

Positive news has been a scarce commodity for England lately but maybe things are changing. As recently as Sunday there was genuine concern that Jonny Wilkinson’s World Cup might be over but it now appears that prospect has been averted. An apparently fit and healthy Wilkinson trained at Onewa Domain on a lovely sunny afternoon in Takapuna and looks ready to feature once more against France in Saturday’s quarter-final.

Just as interesting was the sight of Toby Flood alongside him wearing the number 12 bib. Unless there is a dramatic improvement in the fitness of the beleaguered Mike Tindall, who missed the session with a dead leg, England appear on the brink of restructuring their midfield and looking to play at a higher tempo than they did against Scotland last Saturday.

The prospect of Flood starting at inside-centre would allow Martin Johnson to sidestep the dilemma of whether to drop Wilkinson, sore elbow or not, on the eve of the biggest game of his managerial tenure. Wilkinson has been the scourge of Les Bleus with his kicking at the past two World Cups but has yet to display his best form in New Zealand, either in open play or with his goal-kicking. So far at this tournament Flood has nailed 10 of his 13 attempts at goal while Wilkinson has managed nine out of 20.

Guardian Service

France XV

(v England, Auckland, Saturday, 8.30am)

15 Maxime Medard (Toulouse)

14 Vincent Clerc (Toulouse)

13 Aurelien Rougerie (Clermont)

12 Maxime Mermoz (Perpignan)

11 Alexis Palisson (Brive)

10 Morgan Parra (Clermont)

9 Dimitri Yachvili (Biarritz)

1 Jean-Baptiste Poux (Toulouse)

2 William Servat (Toulouse)

3 Nicholas Mas (Perpignan)

4 Pascal Pape (Stade Francais)

5 Lionel Nallet (Racing Metro)

6 Thierry Dusautoir (Toulouse, c)

7 Julien Bonnaire (Clermont)

8 Imanol Harinordoquy (Biarritz)

Replacements: D Szarzewski (Stade Francais), F Barcella (Biarritz), J Pierre (Clermont) , L Picamoles (Toulouse), F Trinh-Duc (Montpelier), D Marty (Perpignan), C Heymans (Toulouse).