REMEMBER how it was four years ago? When rugby was the new football, Wilko was better than Becks and it was rumoured that Clive Woodward could walk on water?

Well, not long after Jonny Wilkinson's last-gasp drop-goal clinched the 2003 World Cup against Australia - in Sydney, of all places - Woodward's wonders were transformed from heroes to zeroes.

Totemic captain Martin Johnson retired and Wilkinson suffered a string of injuries that threatened to bring a premature halt to a glittering career.

Inspirational Jason Robinson, aka "Billy Whizz", announced he was quitting international rugby. Other key players hung up their boots, lost form or switched to media work (in fact, Matt Dawson is now probably better known for Question of Sport and Strictly Come Dancing than as a World Cup-winning scrum-half.) Despite their proud status as defending champions, England were written off as no-hopers in the build-up to the 2007 competition - an impression seemingly confirmed by an unconvincing win over the USA and an embarrassing 36-0 defeat against South Africa.

And, to make matters worse, Robinson - who had changed his mind about retiring, and was the only player to emerge with reputation intact from the mauling by the Springboks - limped off the field, and apparently out of the sport for ever, with a hamstring injury.

There was even serious doubt that coach Brian Ashton could motivate his men to get past Samoa and Tonga and into the quarter-finals.

But with Wilkinson back in the side, even though he was struggling a little with his normally immaculate kicking, England finally turned in a decent performance against the highly-physical but limited South Pacific sides.

The critics, including many former players, offered some grudging praise instead of the vitriol and scorn they'd previously been dishing out - but they all agreed that Australia would simply have to turn up in Marseille to avenge their final defeat four years earlier.

However, a fantastic lion-hearted performance, and a victory more emphatic than the 12-10 scoreline, soon had the critics eating their words.

The players admitted they'd been fired up by the criticism. Captain Phil Vickery, widely derided earlier in the tournament, said his men had been been grumpy - and it paid off. Fellow forward Nick Easter borrowed a phrase from golfer Nick Faldo, and thanked the press, "from the heart of my bottom."

Meanwhile, in Cardiff - where France, although tournament hosts, were playing because of pre-tournament behind-the-scenes wheeler-dealing - another upset was taking place in the single most spectacular day of World Cup rugby.

Like Australia, odds-on favourites New Zealand were expected to stroll through to the semi-finals. But not for nothing do the Kiwis have a reputation as "chokers". They're expected to win every World Cup - but have done it only once.

The All-Blacks actually wore grey shirts, and looked off-colour from the start, when the French lined up inches away and contemptuously stared down their supposedly intimidating "haka" war dance.

The talismanic Sebastian Chabal - half-man, half-mountain - snorted like a bull through his thick black beard, and Fancy Dan Carter and his highly-fancied team-mates were back on the plane home.

So confident had the Southern Hemisphere sides been, it was reported that they hadn't even booked flights.

England, on the other hand, have exceeded expectations. So too long-standing Six Nations rivals France, who kicked off with ignominious defeat against over-achieving Argentina.

The Pumas boast perhaps the player of the tournament in the outrageously gifted Juan Martin Hernandez, and will line up against South Africa in the last four.

The other semi-final sees England and France resume old rivalries in the Stade de France, Paris.

ITV will be rubbing their hands with glee at the prospect of millions of viewers tuning in to prime-time Saturday night TV (the game kicks off at 8pm tomorrow), and all the advertising revenue that will bring.

England, for the first time in a long while, have a full complement of players to choose from. Ashton, having picked from 25 players for the first five matches, will for once stick with an unchanged team.

So, is Robinson just 80 minutes from finally calling it a day - or can he extend a magnificent career, in both rugby codes, one game further? Will Lewis "Mad Dog" Moody come up against Gallic hounds from hell or French poodles?

Will Wilkinson, a brave and ferocious tackler, finally start nailing those kicks?

Can prop Andrew Sheridan turn in another awesome display? Will Lawrence Dallaglio have more of an impact as an impact sub than Chabal?

And, at the end of the day, will Ashton, nicknamed "Coco" after the circus performer, look like a clown - or will French coach "Mad Bernie" Laporte be more sad than mad?

Forget the football and hold on to your armchair, it promises to be an emotional roller-coaster night ...