Wales has played with authority throughout the tournament and is unbeaten since its opening one-point loss to two-time champion South Africa in the pool stage. The Welsh dominated Ireland in the quarterfinals, but Ellis thinks the threat posed by Ireland and the Springboks was more straightforward to contain than when the French backs are full of confidence.
Wales has “played teams who kick and are defense-orientated, so logically they have not been tested much,” Ellis said. “But we will test them, without doubt. Ireland do not score a lot of tries, South Africa do not score a lot of tries.”
Ellis, who is English, said he thinks France has gained extra impetus by having to raise its game more than Wales has needed to.
France played poorly in the pool stage, even losing to Tonga, but turned a desperate situation around by beating England in the quarterfinal. According to Ellis, there is much more still to come.
“The French have a hell of a lot more progress to make from how we played in the first four games to how we played against England, and we intend to step up another few steps,” Ellis said. “Obviously, when you beat England, which is something the French always like to do anyway, and you make the semifinals of a World Cup, then things are getting better all the time.”
France has won six of the last seven meetings against Wales, but Ellis still regards them as a tougher opponent than England.
“When we’ve won the Six Nations or a Grand Slam the most difficult game has always been Wales,” he said “They are on the crest of a wave. They played very well against South Africa and almost won the game. They’ve won all the other games, including a very tough one against Samoa, and they beat an in-form Irish team.”
Both teams have clinical finishers. Shane Williams has 56 tries for Wales, while France winger Vincent Clerc has a tournament-leading six tries, and 11 overall in World Cups.
France conceded two second-half tries to England and its midfield was torn apart by New Zealand in a 37-17 defeat during the pool stage.
Coach Marc Lievremont has warned his midfield pair of Aurelien Rougerie and Maxime Mermoz to expect their toughest challenge yet from Welsh center Jamie Roberts.
“We’ve played against him (Roberts) on numerous occasions, and he is a major threat,” Ellis said. “We just have to stop him from doing what he has been doing so far.”
France knows to watch Williams, too. The 34-year-old veteran’s two World Cup tries in New Zealand so far were both crucial, settling a close match against Samoa and getting Wales off to a flying start against Ireland.
“You control him for the biggest part of the game, then all of a sudden he gets the ball, chips over the top and wins the game,” Ellis said. “He is dangerous even on his own tryline, so you just have to be on your mark all the time with him. The idea is you have to make sure he doesn’t get the ball by dominating his team and putting them on the back foot.”
