BACK PAGE HEADLINES Daily Star: Barca in �30m Henry swoop The Sun: Gardner's question time Daily Mirror: The Final Insult Daily Mail: Owen's threat The Times: Eriksson calls up Gardner as injuries mount Daily Telegraph: French opinion varied on England The Independent: Dawson predicts exit if England fail to improve The Guardian: FA plans instant bans for players Daily Express: The Golden Handshake

But the papers are split on whether it is England's Rugby World Cup semi-final against France or their football friendly against Denmark that merits the most attention.

There may be four days still to go before the meeting of muscle down under, but there is plenty of scope for analysis of what is generally perceived to be French flair against English organisation in Sydney.

The war of words between the two old rivals is heating up nicely, with France's influential back-row forward Imanol Harinordoquy saying he would be able to cope with losing any game, as long as it was not against England.

He ratchets up the pressure another notch by latching on to one of the themes of the World Cup - whether England's forwards are guilty of illegally slowing possession.

"The referee must be strong because [Lawrence] Dallaglio is constantly using illegal tactics. He kills the ball and no-one does anything about it," Harinordoquy is quoted in the Daily Star.

It must be fear of failure that has provoked the antagonism in the French camp.

For while in Tuesday's papers there was lots of hand-wringing about the form of vital England fly-half Jonny Wilkinson's form, 24 hours later the French are now running scared of "six-hitter Jonny", according to the Daily Mail.

There is precious little fear being expressed from inside the French camp, however, unlike England's.

Scrum-half Matt Dawson picks up on a line used by Clive Woodward on Tuesday.

"France are the form team and there is no way on earth we will beat them if we don't improve," Dawson says in the Independent, among other papers.

As far as the football internationals are concerned, there is widespread mystification at an England call-up for Spurs defender Anthony Gardner.

The Sun holds itself back least. "England fans were left scratching their heads after manager Sven-Goran Eriksson called Anthony Gardner into his squad last night," it writes.

The decision "stunned soccer", apparently, as well as being something of a surprise for Gardner himself. "I thought it was a wind-up at first," he says.

Steven Gerrard's decision to sign a new contract at Liverpool also comes under the spotlight.

It is a "much-needed boost" during a "major blip in [boss Gerard] Houllier's roller-coaster reign", according to the Daily Star.

But the Daily Mirror and the Mail have bad news for Houllier - Michael Owen is quoted saying it is "impossible" to say whether he will follow Gerrard's example.

Real Madrid and Chelsea are apparently waiting in the wings should he decide to move away from Liverpool.

Meanwhile, the papers fancy Nottingham Forest manager Paul Hart to take over from the sacked Peter Reid at Leeds.

The Star says the club have been priced out of moves for Gary Megson, Neil Warnock and Gordon Strachan, while the Guardian also goes for Hart, saying former Leeds boss George Graham has dropped off the club's list