PARIS (AFP) - France coach Bernard Laporte believes that if his side can stop Jonny Wilkinson at the Stade de France on Saturday, they will have one foot in the World Cup final.

The flyhalf's return to the England starting line-up following a right ankle injury that kept him on the sidelines for the first two group games has been the catalyst behind the team's remarkable transformation from chumps to potential champs.

Without him England struggled to beat the United States and were taken apart 36-0 by South Africa.

With him they have beaten Samoa, Tonga and most importantly Australia to reach the last four.

Laporte, whose own side have got back up off the floor following their opening night loss to Argentina, knows only too well how vital Wilkinson is to the English cause having lost to him in the World Cup semi-finals in Sydney four years ago.

"He has come back well. He is the motor of the team. You can see that England do not perform as well when he is not there. He gives the team confidence and plays flat out," Laporte said.

"They have had a similar route to us. They have gained in confidence, especially in their last match against Australia. They are good and one mustn't forget that it was England who stopped us from winning the Grand Slam this year."

Despite the allusions to past matches, the French team management and players are insisting that they want to stay in the present and not hark back to past battles.

That includes the World Cup final in 1999 which saw Australia easily defeat an under-performing French team that was coming off a remarkable semi-final win over the All Blacks.

Things are different now, said French team manager Jo Maso.

"We are not looking back. We have moved on since then. In 1999 we were partying in London (after the win over the All Blacks).

"There were loads of Australians singing in the hotel where we were. This time we are preparing well."

One person who was looking back, however, was football legend Laurent Blanc whose hour of glory came in 1998 when France won the football World Cup in Paris even though he missed the match through suspension.

Blanc, now manager at Bordeaux, said that there were similarities in the way that the French got off to slow starts on both occasions before moving up through the gears.

"I hope that the similarities continue and above all else I hope that the end result is the same," Blanc said.

"I believe they can do it. How can you not believe after that game against the All Blacks (France beat New Zealand in the quarter-finals last weekend)?

"They got off to the worst of possible starts by losing their first game and I think that they are now in the process of putting everything back into place again in the best of possible ways."