France Wales RWC 2011 semi Final : France have named an unchanged starting line-up ahead of their World Cup semi-final clash with Wales at Eden Park in Auckland on Saturday.Marc Lièvremont announced his team on Tuesday, sticking with the same XV and bench which beat England 19-12 in the quarter-finals. Watch RWC 2011 live stream on HD PC TV
France have won six of the last seven meetings between the two nations, but Wales have been the form side at the 2011 Rugby World Cup.France have already played twice at Eden Park during the tournament, losing to New Zealand in the pool stage and beating England in the last-eight round. Wales have yet to play at the venue.
France showed once again they are at their most dangerous when in apparent disarray by dumping England out of the rugby World Cup on Saturday.The French, beaten twice in the pool stages, defeated the 2003 world champions 19-12 at Auckland’s Eden Park in the second of the weekend’s quarter-finals.
They will meet Wales, 22-10 victors over Ireland at the Wellington Regional Stadium earlier in the day, in next weekend’s semi-finals.France were defeated by hosts New Zealand and then suffered a humiliating loss to Tonga in the first round. Relations between coach Marc Lievremont and the team soured to such an extent that no player turned up to an informal social evening called to mend fences.
Still anyone with even a casual interest in rugby history, and in particular the 24-year saga of the World Cup, would have known that no team can defy the odds quite like the mercurial French.
