France v England
Eden Park, 8.30pm Saturday
Referee: Steve Walsh (Australia)
Having just been squashed by now-departed Tonga, France will field almost the same XV for "Le Crunch" - their quarter-final against England at Eden Park on Saturday night.
Strange? No, but distinctly French. More specifically, very French under Marc Lievremont.
Indeed, if they fancy a challenge, France should take note that no team has won a World Cup after losing one pool game, let alone two.
That would take some doing; so the immediate question is whether France - rather like Pakistan at the 1992 cricket World Cup - can bounce back from the brink of elimination to lift the trophy.
The only changes are in the pack, where their best prop, Nicolas Mas, is over a hamstring strain and returns on the tighthead side; and at No 8, where France's most experienced forward Imanol Harinordoquy is chosen ahead of Raphael Lakafia and Louis Picamoles.
The backs, who were hopeless for much of the 19-14 loss to Tonga in Wellington, are retained en masse.
That means little Morgan Parra, with two games at first five-eighths behind him at this level, stays in the No 10 ahead of the presumed first choice Francois Trinh-Duc.
The suspended midfield back Fabrice Estabenez has been replaced on the bench by David Marty; Picamoles fills Harinordoquy's spot among the reserves.
But with so much swirling around the French camp - primarily allegations of disharmony between coach Lievremont and his players - the coach was remarkably relaxed at a chaotic press conference yesterday.
It was held in a room half the required size given the interest. The audience was squeezed in, with several craning necks outside the door. The English translator spoke in a whisper.
The grumbles were muttered en francais et en anglais. The gag out by the door was that this was Lievremont's revenge on those pesky media types.
A quartet of players came and went at intervals. Cameras swung dangerously close to unsuspecting heads.
Now sporting a fledgling moustache - courtesy of a bet - Lievremont looked anything but a man with the weight of a grossly underperforming rugby nation on his shoulders.
"I thought I had experienced everything in terms of shame. But this time round it's been an extremely violent feeling again," he said after the Tongan loss.
"Each missed pass, each missed tackle, I took them as a deep personal failure."
His mien yesterday might have something to do with the die already being cast on the former international flanker. He is leaving the job once France finish at the World Cup.
Talk of drama behind the scenes was overblown. There's no talk of revolution, instead he said: "I just want the players to understand they haven't done their job.
"This French team is much better than they showed against Tonga."
Now the time has arrived when there's no slipping out the back door and living to fight another day.
The clear suggestion from yesterday's press conference is that the onus will sit on Numbers 8, 9 and 10 - Harinordoquy, Dimitri Yachvili and Parra - to run the ship against England.
Therefore, a broad hint is that the French might keep things tight, preferring to duel with England up front, rather than put much faith in a misfiring backline.
"We have to stop asking questions of ourselves now and go for it because the French team plays well when it stops asking questions," Harinordoquy said.
England have won four of the past five matches against France, and eliminated them from the past two World Cups at the semifinal stage.
For the big Basque Harinordoquy, for one, those two cup losses are quite enough.
"I don't want it to happen again. I don't know if England are stronger, but I know it will be a very hard match, with a lot of fight [resolve]," he said.
"I don't know if there will be a lot of passing, but there will be a lot of contact, I am sure on that."
Harinordoquy, preparing for his 75th cap, has been quoted in the past as saying he's no fan of the English.
He laughed that off yesterday, but his message was clear: the time for France to stop faffing about and stand tall has arrived.
FRANCE v ENGLAND
France team
Maxime Medard
Vincent Clerc
Aurelien Rougerie
Maxime Mermoz
Alexis Palisson
Morgan Parra
Dimitri Yachvili
I. Harinordoquy
Julien Bonnaire
T. Dusautoir (c)
Lionel Nallet
Pascal Pape
Nicolas Mas
William Servat
JB Poux
Reserves: Dimitri Szarzewski, Fabien Barcella, Julien Pierre, Louis Picamoles, Francois-Trinh-Duc, David Marty, Cedric Heymans