French coach braces for crack at champs

French coach Bernard Laporte is readying himself for a highly-charged week as he seeks to steel his side for the challenge of beating England to clinch the Six Nations grand slam.

After making it four wins out of four with a clinical 31-0 defeat of Scotland yesterday, there was no disguising his appetite for a crack at Clive Woodward's world champions.

"It is going to be an exciting, emotional week," he said.

"At the end of it we have a game between two teams who have a lot of respect for each other. They are the world champions, from the same half of the globe as us."