Sporting Bygones: England hold telling psychological edge going into Saturday’s Auckland encounter

England and France are old hands at knockout rugby, old enemies, and bitter rivals. Despite being so close geographically, they are worlds apart in friendship.

Those 21 miles between Dover and Calais are covered by a festering antipathy.

It will all come to a head in the capital of New Zealand on Saturday when one of these nations will take a significant step towards booking a return date to Eden Park and the World Cup final on October 23.

The history of rugby union is littered with pivotal, brutal contests between the two.

In Six Nations battle, the bread and butter of Anglo-Franco duals, England lead 51-36, with seven draws.

And when it comes to the more defining matter of World Cups, England’s edge is just as definite.

England and France have met four times in the six previous World Cups, with the Red Rose emerging triumphant on three occasions and Les Bleus just once.

That sole victory of the French came in the third/fourth place play-off of 1995, when the dreams of both had been shattered days earlier in the semi-final and a bronze medal meant little more than a token consolation.

The upper hand is with England, who have eliminated France at the knockout stage three times.

In the 1991 quarter-final at the Parc de Princes in Paris, England emerged triumphant by 19 points to six.

Rory Underwood and Will Carling scored the tries in the days when only four points were awarded for crossing the whitewash.

Jonathan Webb converted one try and kicked three penalties, with the French response a sole try from Jean-Baptiste Lafond, converted by Thierry Lacroix, as the Parisians slumped home, their tails between their legs.

France won the 1995 play-off in Pretoria, 19-9, but it would be eight years before the teams met again in the knockout stages, and again, it would be the English who celebrated.

This time it was the semi-final.

England were confident, the favourites, determined and driven by destiny in Australia.

Sir Clive Woodward’s men had been ruthless in scoring 255 points in four Pool C victories over South Africa, Uruguay, Samoa and Georgia.

Wales produced only temporary resistance in the quarter-final, before being despatched 28-17.

France had been similarly impressive in breezing through their pool and thrashing Ireland in the last eight.

But their noted Gallic flair was snuffed out by the driving rain and howling winds on that Sydney evening in the Telstra Stadium.

Led by captain Martin Johnson, England’s game plan was reduced to an attritional battle in which Jonny Wilkinson kept his head, kicking five penalties and three drop goals.

By contrast, his opposite number Frederic Michalak missed five kicks at goal and only managed the one conversion to Serge Betsen’s solitary try.

As the picture shows, former Leeds Carnegie head coach Neil Back was a pivotal figure that night, breaking the line at will to set up opportunities for their match-winning fly-half to kick at goal.

The endearing image of that English victory was that no white-shirted player went overboard in their celebrations.

Johnson betrayed little emotion as he led his team off the field.

The message from within Woodward’s camp was simple – job done.

That statement was emphatically backed up a week later when another Wilkinson drop goal defeated Australia and gave English rugby its finest hour.

Four years later and England and France met for the second successive World Cup semi-final.

Where four years earlier they had been in formidable form, both had limped to the knockout stages, losing pool games en route. England were nilled in embarrassing fashion by the Springboks while France lost on the opening night to Argentina.

However, in the quarter-finals England’s pack destroyed Australia in Marseille and the French produced one of their most blistering performances to shock the tournament favourites New Zealand in Cardiff.

But no team it would seem, can negate Gallic flair quite like England.

And so it came to pass again that the white shirts would be Les Bleus’ nemesis.

And once again it was the boot of Wilkinson that helped slay France. He kicked two of three penalties in the Stade de France and notched one drop goal to add to Josh Lewsey’s early try.

But he only managed to register six of his nine-point haul in the dying embers of the match after Lionel Beauxis had given France a slender 9-8 lead and put the hosts on the brink of a World Cup final on home soil. The memories of Paris twice and Sydney will send chills down the spines of Marc Lievremont’s squad this week as they build towards Saturday’s quarter-final. England, on the evidence of World Cup matches gone by, have a huge psychological edge over France.

Few would bet against them strengthen that hold in Auckland.