The French launched the 2007 World Cup and named their side for Sunday’s 2003 World Cup semifinal in Sydney on Tuesday.
They gave us all a T-shirt and a rugby ball down at The Rocks, where the convicts were first landed down under.
And the French, 300 years later, are not lacking in conviction.
They believe the next World Cup, played at 13 stadiums including Dublin, Cardiff and Edingburgh, will be even better than this one.
But having excluded England from hosting the 2007 competition, they’d dearly love to exclude them from playing in this one.
Naming an unchanged side after the whipping of Ireland in Melbourne on Sunday, coach Bernard Laporte insisted England are still the favourites but he knows they aren’t. Not the way France are playing.
He said: ”I don’t think the English have dropped away. They’ve come through some tough matches and they’ve won .
”We have come into form recently, but England are still the favourites.
”A World Cup gives other countries the chance to close the gap on England, where they are very professional all the time. Living together 24 hours a day gives everyone else the chance to lift their level for the World Cup.”
Their manager, Joe Maso, talked of ”revenge for the Six Nations” but made the point: ”At least there will be one European side in the final.”
Laporte denied saying he hates England and all things English (despite the headlines on Tuesday, it was a mistranslation) and added: ”The English are always a threat. I respect Martin Johnson and Clive Woodward. When they came here saying they could win the World Cup, that was confidence not arrogance.”
Apparently in France, television ratings are growing by the week and fans are flocking to Sydney for the semis. There have been 300 faxes a day coming from France after a quiet start to the tournament.
Maso said: ”It’s nice to have so many people behind us, even if they are a long way away.”
Then the key question. Do the French think Jonny Wilkinson is struggling? Maso said: ”If Jonny doesn’t want to play any more for England, we’ll have him. He’d make a great French star.”
Laporte argued: ”Jonny and our own Frederic Michalak are both great players but Jonny has years of experience.”