England the favourites, insists Marsh

Tony Marsh today rubbished England boss Clive Woodward’s comment that France are red-hot favourites to beat the Six Nations champions in their World Cup semi-final showdown.

Although Woodward delivered his remark somewhat tongue-in-cheek, French centre star Marsh said: “He’s smart isn’t he?

“I read on the internet last night that he reckons that we are red-hot favourites. He’s very smart.

“We have probably had one of the easier pools in the tournament, and the last time England played Ireland, they won by a greater margin than we did in the quarter-final last Sunday, so I don’t know what he is talking about.”

The phoney war and mind-games are likely to gather momentum as the week unfolds, but New Zealand-born Marsh feels that France’s emphatic quarter-final success against Ireland told its own story.

“Before the Irish game I was probably a bit worried that maybe we had not been tested for the full 80 minutes,” he added.

“But after the weekend’s game, even though we expected a match that was a lot harder than it probably was, it showed how far we have come as a team.

“As the tournament has gone on, we have got stronger and stronger, and we have grown in confidence as well. But next Sunday will be the true test for us.

“From a personal point of view, I am really looking forward to it – it’s the World Cup and England are the favourites.

“There has been a lot of talk over the last couple of weeks that England have not performed, but it is semi-final time and I am sure that they will be up for it. It is going to be a hard match.”

Marsh, who is set to forge the French midfield combination alongside Toulouse centre Yannick Jauzion, has taken a keen interest in England’s World Cup performances.

South Africa, Samoa and latterly Wales all exposed English deficiencies, even though Woodward’s men won all three games.

“Sometimes the English have been a little bit exposed in defence. They have struggled a little bit, and under pressure, they have made a lot of mistakes as well,” said Marsh, at the French team hotel, overlooking Bondi Beach today.

“We will look at what some of the other teams have done well against them, take that into account and try to put that in our play as well.”

For 31-year-old Marsh, the prospect of playing in a World Cup semi-final seemed inconceivable earlier this year after he was diagnosed as suffering from testicular cancer.

Today though, he was keen to play down his heroic fightback to full health and fitness.

“The World Cup has been a big driving force for me and a big motivation for me to get up and running. To add to things, Bernard Laporte (French coach) has shown a lot of faith in me, and I am just happy to be here.”

Laporte, meanwhile, is poised to call Montferrand lock Thibault Privat into his World Cup squad as replacement for the injured Olivier Brouzet.

Privat will arrive in Australia tomorrow, with official confirmation of the change expected from World Cup organisers later today.