"If England think they were physical against the Aussies, they are going to have to step it up in every single department against France. You have to close their space down."

Those are the words of World Cup winning scrum-half Matt Dawson, who played behind a dominant red rose pack in that 2003 semi-final.

"If I take my mind back to the week building up to the match, it was all about confrontation," said Dawson.

"They will hardly have done any training this week. In their minds they will be thinking about how physical they will have to be against France."