point lead in the first half and held on to beat an error-prone England 19-12 at Eden Park Saturday and set up a World Cup semifinal against Wales. Putting aside four weeks of squad unrest and stuttering form, the French scored tries through Vincent Clerc and Maxime Médard to redeem themselves after last week's loss to Tonga and gain revenge on the English for semifinal defeats at the last two World Cups. “We are very happy,” said scrumhalf Dimitri Yachvili. “It's much easier to play when we have pressure on the line so big congratulations to our pack. “It's like we have got revenge on ourselves. We showed very good team spirit today, we couldn't afford to play like we did last week against Tonga.” England, the 2003 champion and runner-up at the last World Cup, conspired in their own downfall with ill-discipline among their forwards and handling errors in the backs costing them dear as they chased the game. Fullback Ben Foden and winger Mark Cueto did score tries after half time but they proved too little, too late as the English lost to France for the first time in a knockout match at the World Cup. The French will return to Eden Park next Saturday to take on Wales, who beat Ireland 22-10 in the day's first quarterfinal, with a place in the final at stake. Wales has also had something of a resurgence of its running game, with an attack-minded halfback pairing of Mike Phillips and Rhys Priestland directing a young and vibrant backline. Veteran winger Shane Williams gave Wales a third-minute lead with a try in the right corner and, after Keith Earls crossed in the corner to level the scores at 10-10 early in the second half, the Welsh responded with Phillips' individual snipe down the blindside for a try and Jonathan Davies' solo effort through some feeble defense in midfield. “It's an historic win for Wales today. The boys have been outstanding,” Phillips said. “We were superb today. we've worked our socks off for this — we deserve the win.” There were big expectations on Ireland after an upset pool win over Tri-Nations champion Australia and a thumping victory over Italy.
