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PARIS - England coach Brian Ashton said all the detailed planning he and his staff had done ahead of Saturday's World Cup semi-final against hosts France could count for nothing after kick-off.
The old rivals have played each other three times already this season, with England winning in the Six Nations but France on top in two World Cup warm-up matches in August.
"You pick up bits and pieces out of them all," Ashton said on Friday ahead of the Stade de France clash.
"But it is such a one off tomorrow (Saturday) night that what has happened this year is an irrelevance."
England, since winning the World Cup in 2003 where they beat France in the semi-finals, have struggled to finish off moves when in try-scoring positions.
This problem surfaced again during a 12-10 quarter-final win over Australia where all England's points came from the boot of Jonny Wilkinson.
Ashton said keeping a cool head would be vital to England's chances at the weekend.
"This is where the players' judgments come into play. They have to make the decisions out there.
"The French will want to pin us down in our own half and throw their defensive curtain around us - we know that."
"We've talked about how we want to attack, how we want to defend, but what if France don't play the way we have planned for them to do so? The players need to be adaptable on the field."
But physical strength will also have a role to play and Ben Kay, a member of the team that defeated Australia in the World Cup final four years ago, backed fellow lock Simon Shaw - who was called up as a replacement during the last World Cup - to have a big impact against France.
"I think Shawsy is the most physical second row in world rugby. It will be immensely useful with the physical way France play and we will use Shawsy to stamp it out early."
- AFP
