England v France: England are kicking off at 6 p.m. today but for months Clive Woodward has earmarked this clash with France as the dawn of something special.

By the time his team next play at Twickenham, in March, their World Cup fortunes will be history and this week's feverish conjecture about the last few names on his squad list a relatively minor footnote.

Because as Woodward is well aware, England's chances of winning the Webb Ellis Cup hinge far more on Jonny Wilkinson or Martin Johnson than on whether Stuart Abbott or Ollie Smith plays against Uruguay.

He already knows most of those bound for Australia and this fixture is about ensuring the squad depart in feelgood mode as much as it is about rubber-stamping the remaining couple of passports.

Accordingly, 11 members of the team who beat the Wallabies in June are back in harness. The preferred script involves a convincing win and a deserted medical room.

Still, as last weekend's tough encounter in Marseille showed, France are also building a formidable squad and, even if Jean-Baptiste Poux succumbs to a thigh strain, the visiting forwards could still give their English opposite numbers as many headaches in the scrums and lineouts.

England's intended solution is to be quicker and sharper at the set-pieces, which will suit ambitious backline runners such as Abbott and Iain Balshaw. But it will take an eye-catching individual performance to sway Woodward.

A sell-out crowd can expect a seriously physical encounter.

England v France, Twickenham, 6.0, On TV: Sky Sports 1