But they have recovered thanks to back-to-back wins over Samoa and Tonga, and Saturday’s quarter-final victory over Australia has put them two victories away from retaining their title.

Laporte’s Les Bleus present the first hurdle and the soon-to-be-retiring France chief is an unashamed fan of this weekend’s opponents.

“The English people have something that few have – pride,” he said.

“They are immense and they are not scared of defeat. They are always going for it 100%.

“Sometimes they do not play well and lose. And when you look at the composition of the teams they have been putting out, their best players are not there [any more].

“But the English team are healthy again. Don’t forget it was them who stopped us doing the Grand Slam (in the RBS 6 Nations Championship this year).”

Laporte acknowledges the impact Jonny Wilkinson has on the world champions. “He is one of the motors of this team with his overall game and his charisma,” said the Les Bleus coach.

But France defence coach David Ellis believes the selection of Andy Gomarsall at scrum-half in place of Shaun Perry has brought the best out of the Newcastle star, and England as a team.

“Wilkinson is back on top form because they finally have a scrum-half who can pass the ball to him in Andy Gomarsall,” said Leeds-born Ellis, a member of France’s backroom staff since 2001.

“That gives the forwards plenty of encouragement – when the ball gets to Jonny quickly, he is putting the forwards into the right area of the field. It keeps them out of danger.

“Now all the players are performing well for them, and we are going to have to handle that.

“We have to make sure we don’t allow them to progress any further in the way they want to develop their game. You can see slowly but surely that they want to put a more attacking game together.”

France will step up the intensity in training today, just 48 hours before the latest ’Le Crunch’ showdown.

The tournament hosts took three days off after their memorable 20-18 quarter-final victory over New Zealand, but returned to training yesterday.

Laporte has gone with an unchanged side and bench, the first time he has named the same team for back-to-back games since November 2004.

Flanker Serge Betsen has recovered from a bang to the head to retain his place in the starting line-up, while a host of other players who sustained knocks - including prop Olivier Milloud (neck) – are fit.

Lionel Beauxis has won his battle with fellow number 10s Frederic Michalak and David Skrela for the fly-half berth, while Damien Traille is again preferred at full-back to Clement Poitrenaud.

Team manager Jo Maso said: “We are using the team that beat New Zealand last week because we were satisfied with their performance.

“We beat New Zealand with this team so there is no need to change.

“We had two possible ways of playing and we have chosen this one.”