John Wells believes England can ''repeat the performance'' that sent Australia home early - when they bid for a World Cup final place at Stade de France this weekend.

England's forwards, mentored by Wells, smashed the Wallabies into submission - the world champions proving far more comfortable winners than a 12-10 scoreline suggested.

On Saturday, though, they must do it all over again - with host nation France standing between them and a second successive final appearance.

Wells said: ''We knew we had a good performance in us, and it was a good time to produce it at the weekend.

''We owed ourselves and our supporters a big game. It was the first time for everyone in the competition that the performance came out.

''It was a great performance, and the players deserve their plaudits.

''We need to prepare well for Saturday, because at the weekend we are against a better unit.

''We know what we are going up against. We believe the guys that are playing for us can repeat the performance.''

Prop Andrew Sheridan rightly took the glory for his wrecking job on the Wallabies scrum, yet lock Simon Shaw's display arguably confirmed his status as England's form forward of the tournament.

Wells added: ''I am not surprised (by Shaw's performance).

''He had an indifferent start to the season with Wasps last year, and his performance has improved game by game.

''Like in the Heineken Cup final against Leicester, he had a huge influence on the game.

''We have never had a natural replacement for Johnno Martin Johnson. In terms of what he did, Simon had a tremendous game at the weekend.''

England travelled by train to Paris yesterday, having celebrated knocking Australia out for a third time in the last four World Cups with nothing more than a meal of ribs and chips.

Head coach Brian Ashton is likely to announce his starting line-up on tomorrow - the same day as France boss Bernard Laporte declares his hand - and England made the four-hour journey without reporting any major injury problems.

France's victory over New Zealand underlined how the host nation have gathered momentum since their opening-day defeat against Argentina.

With the majority of a capacity 80,000 crowd roaring on Les Bleus, England know hopes for a successful Webb Ellis Trophy defence will require a colossal display.

Wells said: ''We all have pictures in our head of how France play, but they are also a pragmatic team.

''But if we were grumpy and horrible last weekend, it has worked - because we won, so I want us to be grumpy and horrible this weekend.''

England's defence also came in for considerable praise, after Australia were restricted to a first-half Lote Tuqiri touchdown.

It was all a far cry from the way South Africa cut them to shreds barely three weeks ago, inflicting a record 36-0 World Cup defeat on England in the process.

Defence coach Mike Ford said: ''I think we have steadily built on our performance from day one. Everybody has agreed it has got better and better, and we hope to improve on Saturday.

''France have a bit more structure and less flair than normal.

''They are favourites, because they are at home at Stade de France - but I think the older France team will come out and they will run the ball.

''We talked about confidence in the pool games - and we needed a win for the coaches, players and staff to start to believe it. But we are only as good as our next game.

''I have no doubt that defence won the game for France against New Zealand on Saturday.

''Dave Ellis (France defence coach) has been there a long time. From my time with Ireland, I thought France were the best defensive unit in the world.

''It dropped off a bit, but they are now back up there.

''I expect us to perform to the next level, and to get to the World Cup final we have to.''