England rugby coach wary of wounded French side

France must rebound from their humiliating defeat by Tonga to prevent England from reaching a third consecutive World Cup semi-final when the two great Six Nations rivals meet at Eden Park here on Saturday. Les Bleus struck rock bottom with their abject 19-14 loss to the Tongans in one of the World Cup's greatest upsets in Wellington last Saturday. Despite their second pool loss, France staggered into the quarter-finals where they face 2003 champions England, themselves bombarded with criticism of their conservative game plan and off-field shenanigans. England have been damaged by the negative fallout from Mike Tindall's boozy night out in Queenstown as well as having Courtney Lawes and Delon Armitage banned for foul play, while two coaches were suspended for illegally swapping balls during the pool win over Romania. French rugby is notorious for its peaks and troughs and such is their unpredictability that England management and players have this week stressed the danger of writing off a Tricolore team in conflict with itself. "It's situation normal, isn't it?" England manager Martin Johnson said. "Who knows what to expect from the French? It makes them very dangerous," Johnson said of a side England beat in both the 2003 and 2007 World Cup semi-finals. Much interest this week has centred on the fitness of golden boy Jonny Wilkinson, England's record points scorer with 1,177 and bettered in all international rugby only by New Zealand's Dan Carter, who is now out of the tournament with a groin injury. Wilkinson came off with an elbow injury five minutes from the end of England's laboured 16-12 final pool win over Scotland at Eden Park last Saturday. Related article: England vs France head-to-head record Questions have been raised about 32-year-old Wilkinson's effectiveness as he has managed just nine out of his 20 goal attempts in the tournament and there have been calls for Leicester's Toby Flood to take over at fly-half. It was replacement Flood's long pass that prised open the Scots' defence for wing Chris Ashton to score the winning try with two minutes to get England home. Which of the two stand-off is to wear the No 10 shirt this weekend will be known when Johnson, England's 2003 World Cup-winning captain, unveils his team later Thursday. No team has ever won the World Cup after losing one pool match, let alone two. France coach Marc Lievremont said the team's demoralising loss to Tonga had left him with a sense of "deep personal failure" and it was time for the players to react. "The essential thing is that the players must take responsibility," he said. "One can have regrets, and I am the first to have regrets, but now we are in this difficult situation we have to react. "But I am convinced the players can react," added Lievremont, for whom this match could be his last as France coach as he will be replaced after the World Cup by fellow former international Philippe Saint-Andre. Lievremont has again decided to play scrum-half Morgan Parra at fly-half ahead of specialist outside half Francois Trinh-Duc, which has been one of the big talking points in the French rugby commentariat. "Morgan is a competitor. I think he's added a certain dynamism which, although it didn't produce concrete results against New Zealand, I want to stick with," Lievremont said. The only changes to the French starting side beaten by Tonga are the return of first-choice No 8 Imanol Harinordoquy in place of Raphael Lakafia while leading tighthead prop Nicolas Mas is in for Luc Ducalcon.