No change to French starting XV

As expected, France will field the same starting XV, which beat Ireland last weekend, for Sunday's Rugby World Cup semi-final clash against England at Telstra Stadium in Sydney.

At a press conference in central Sydney on Wednesday morning, coach Bernard Laporte revealed his intention to keep faith with the team who decimated the Irish by 43-21 in the quarter-final in Melbourne last weekend, although he has made four changes to the bench.

With the luckless lock Olivier Brouzet having bid farewell to the squad because of his shoulder injury, David Auradou is promoted to the bench.

The other three switches see back rower Cristian Labit replacing Patrick Tabacco, Damien Traille replacing South African-born Brian Liebenberg and Clément Poitrenaud coming in for Pepito Elhorga - the latter having flown home to France to attend his father's funeral.

"It's the match we've all been waiting for," said Laporte. "England are the favourites since the start of the Tournament and this is a chance for France to get revenge for the Six Nations, and whatever happens, this match means a European team will play in the Final.

"I don't think the English have dropped away in form at all, in fact, I think the opposite. They've managed to come through a couple of really tough matches against Samoa and Wales and still win.

"I still feel they are the favourites. This is still a very, very strong English team."

France: 15 Nicolas Brusque, 14 Aurélien Rougerie, 13 Tony Marsh, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Christophe Dominici, 10 Frédéric Michalak, 9 Fabien Galthié (captain), 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Olivier Magne, 6 Serge Betsen, 5 Jérôme Thion, 4 Fabien Pelous, 3 Sylvain Marconnet, 2 Raphael Ibanez, 1 Jean-Jacques Crenca.
Replacements: 16 Yannick Bru, 17 Olivier Milloud, 18 David Auradou, 19 Christian Labit, 20 Gérald Merceron, 21 Damien Traille, 22 Clément Poitrenaud.

Kick-off: 20.00 local, (09.00 GMT), Live in the UK on ITV1

By Justin O'Regan in Sydney