Dawson predicts exit if England fail to improve

During times of hardship, the best rugby teams slam the door on the outside world and engage in an "honesty session" - a uniquely uncomfortable form of sporting therapy in which fingers are pointed, guilty pleas are entered and rollockings are dispensed.

England, a determinedly private bunch in the normal run of things, are so concerned at the erosion of their form since the opening weekend of this tournament that they have decided to hold their session in public.

Clive Woodward, the coach, was the first to accept that his team would finish a poor second to France in this weekend's semi-final unless they acknowledged the error of their recent ways and rediscovered some of the basic virtues that underpinned their first Six Nations' Grand Slam last spring and guided them through an unbeaten tour of the Antipodes during the summer.

Yesterday, two of the senior players and occasional captains - Matt Dawson, the Northampton scrum-half, and Phil Vickery, the Gloucester prop - picked up the ball and ran with it, which was more than they managed on the pitch during Sunday's desperate scrap with Wales.

"If we play the first half against France as we did against the Welsh, the punishment will be greater than two tries; in fact, the game will be over," Dawson admitted. "They are the form team in the competition, and there is no way on earth we will beat them if we do not improve.

"We have yet to perform for 80 minutes in a big game. We're still winning those games and ultimately we can deal with a low level of performance if it has a 'W' next to it. But we have hit a plateau, and while we're playing well in phases, we are short of a comprehensive display. Will we achieve it? The thought of playing the French is motivation enough."

Vickery, the farmer's boy from the far south-west, was more blunt. Asked whether he had considered what it might mean to lay hands on a World Cup-winners' medal after four years of the most intense preparation ever undertaken by an English vintage, he replied: "If we start thinking in those terms now, we'll be in trouble. And we're in enough trouble as it is."

Assuming both men play - England have delayed their team announcement until tomorrow because of fitness concerns over a number of players, including Josh Lewsey and Iain Balshaw - they will find themselves engaged in personal contests of mighty significance. Vickery must attempt to subdue the scrummaging power of Jean-Jacques Crenca, the most destructive loose-head prop in the tournament. Dawson, meanwhile, will be charged with silencing the heartbeat of the French side, as provided by the remarkable Fabien Galthié.

The 34-year-old half-back from Stade Français is in the thick of a fourth World Cup campaign, and it will be his last; indeed, he will retire the moment his country takes its leave of the tournament. "He is," Dawson said, with due humility, "an inspiration to a good number of us thirtysomethings. He wouldn't claim to have the best pass, the best kicking game or the strongest defence, but he has something of everything, and that makes him more dangerous than most."

Like everything else, it was a telling comment. England internationals do not often talk of opponents in so reverential a manner - generally, they say the right things in the right places while leaving the listener in no doubt as to their expectation that all will be right on the night. Suddenly, in the aftermath of the Welsh uprising - not to mention that of the Samoans - they are open and honest about their own limitations and the scale of the threats that lie ahead.

Sunday's semi-final is an open book; so open, in fact, that a player as confident as Dawson has no idea of the language in which it will ultimately be written.