France lock Jerome Thion said this week of the English: "They complain when people say they don't like them but go and talk to Australian people. I don't think they have much love for the Poms as they call them. Maybe they will support us on Sunday."
Australia newspapers bashed England at every opportunity during the World Cup pool stages and their readers lapped it up.
"Is that all you've got?" crowed a headline in The Australian after a mixed performance by Wilkinson against South Africa a month ago.
When England's cricket captain Nasser Hussain courted disaster by inviting Australia to bat in the first test of the 2002 to 2003 series, Melbourne's Herald Sun tabloid screamed in a headline: "Nasser Insane".
Woodward knows it is his turn in the firing line. "There are not many people in this tournament who want to see England do well," he admitted.
RSS