Pieter de Villiers last night warned England's front row not to expect the same easy ride in the scrum at Stade de France tomorrow as that enjoyed against Australia in Marseille last week and predicted that whoever gained control in the set piece would win the all-European semi-final.

A survivor from France's 1999 World Cup final side, the 35-year-old De Villiers, who will be winning his 69th cap, acknowledged that as a tight-head prop it was down to him to subdue Australia's destroyer, Andrew Sheridan, and slam England's scrum into reverse gear.

"My job is to stop England's scrum and ensure that we put their scrum-half under pressure," he said. "I have never played against Sheridan but I have watched him on video and he is making a name for himself. What I would also say is that the new scrum law means that the onus is on a set of forwards to scrummage collectively, but the tight-head is the prop who attacks the opposition scrum on their put-in and sets the tone.

"England destroyed Australia's scrum, which had improved in recent times, but that evening we took on New Zealand, whose scrum has been the best in the world in the last few years. We rocked them in that area in the second half and that gave us a huge psychological lift. It is going to be a crucial area on Saturday."

The evening will be Sheridan's biggest test since he locked horns with the New Zealander Carl Hayman two years ago. De Villiers is regarded as one of the best scrummaging tight-heads around and his absences earlier this year were sorely felt by France.

"England had a slow start to the tournament but their scrum was good against South Africa," said De Villiers. "They have grown in confidence since that day and they played a great game against Australia. They have a group of players who stuck together through some tough times when they took a lot of criticism. The pressure is off their shoulders now they have reached the semi-finals and when a team is in that state of mind it is very dangerous."

De Villiers was one of five France players made available to the media yesterday at the squad's hotel in the south-west of the capital and he was easily the most in demand. He was as softly spoken as his opposite number, but did not stop speaking after he had reached a full stop. "A semi-final is more difficult than a final," he said. "It comes down to who best handles the pressure. We beat England twice in friendlies in August but they will count for nothing on Saturday, because they were merely warm-ups for the World Cup.

"England showed last weekend that they believe themselves to be the world champions, while we demonstrated what we were capable of by coming back from 13 points down to beat the top-ranked team in the world. It is going to be a tough, physical encounter in which the scrum and defence will hold the key."