MARCOUSSIS (FRANCE) - FRANCE may have beaten the mighty All Blacks at this World Cup to rise to No 2 in the rankings, but they have won nothing yet.
This message was hammered into the French players' heads by coach Bernard Laporte and manager Jo Maso yesterday.
And with good reason.
France have a record of losing their focus in games following classy victories.
That was exactly what happened after famous World Cup semi-final wins over Australia in 1987 and New Zealand in 1999.
In Auckland, in the competition's inaugural year, they collapsed against New Zealand.
In 1999, France summoned, apparently from nowhere, a counter-attacking game at Twickenham that blew away New Zealand, but were promptly overrun a week later by Australia in Cardiff.
'It won't happen this time,' Maso assured.
'In 1999 we partied in London because we were so happy with the win and couldn't find enough enthusiasm for the final against Australia.
'This time we know we have won a big match and we're all thinking about the next, realising we have won nothing yet.'
France captain Raphael Ibanez said England will prove even tougher opponents than New Zealand, who came into the World Cup as outright favourites before being knocked out 18-20 on Saturday.
'That was only a quarter-final,' the veteran hooker said. 'Now we have a semi-final against the world champions coming up. A tougher challenge lies ahead.'
Like France, who started their campaign by losing to Argentina, England suffered in the pool stage with a humiliating 0-36 defeat by South Africa.
They recovered to knock out Australia in the quarter-finals.
And Laporte reminded his players that England are at full strength.
'We saw against Australia that England are healthy again,' Laporte said, referring to England's 12-10 upset win.
'We know their abilities, the quality of their players. It will be a very, very hard match against a pack that is very strong.'
As well as a fearsome pack led by captain Phil Vickery and Andrew Sheridan, England have been lifted by the return of fly-half Jonny Wilkinson since they lost to South Africa.
Wilkinson, plagued by injuries since scoring the winning drop goal against Australia in the 2003 final, kicked all 12 points against Australia. But he is still nowhere near his best.
'He has come back well, although he missed a couple of kicks against Australia,' Laporte said. 'He is one of the motors in this team, and he gives them confidence.
'Is he at his best level? It's hard to say, you should ask him. But he is very much in form.'
France can turn to recent history for inspiration, having beaten England twice in warm-up matches in August.
But they also have a more immediate memory to assuage: four years ago, they met England in the semi-finals in Sydney having played glorious rugby up to that point.
Then it rained and, although Serge Betsen scored the game's only try, France were ripped apart by the power of England's pack and the accuracy of Wilkinson's goal-kicking.
'All that doesn't count,' said Laporte. 'We know them well, they know us well, but we'll start from scratch.'
