England take on Wales in last quarter-final

After watching New Zealand and France flex their World Cup muscle in impressive style over the past 24 hours co-favourites England stepped into the spotlight at Suncorp Stadium tonight.

After watching New Zealand and France flex their World Cup muscle in impressive style over the past 24 hours co-favourites England stepped into the spotlight at Suncorp Stadium.

Clive Woodward’s side were hardly impressive during the pool stages but were hopeful of turning in the kind of performance produced by two of their major rivals for the Webb Ellis Cup against a Welsh side who have not beaten their fiercest foes since 1999.

A week ago, few would have given Wales a prayer of causing an upset but optimism in the Valleys has been rekindled by the stunning display against the All Blacks last weekend which still had them in front with just 20 minutes to go.

Having gone into that game with virtually a second string side, Welsh coach Steve Hansen faced a selection dilemma and caused something of a surprise by leaving back-row Martyn Williams on the bench.

England suffered a blow yesterday when full-back Josh Lewsey pulled out with a hamstring injury, forcing Jason Robinson to switch from the wing and allowing Dan Luger to step up from the bench.

Other than that, there were just two changes from the side which defeated South Africa in the key pool game; Matt Dawson taking over at scrum-half from Kyran Bracken while veteran prop Jason Leonard retained his place ahead of Trevor Woodman to equal Phillipe Sella’s world record of 111 Test appearances.