France, who are aiming to win their eighth Grand Slam, go into the match full of confidence following four consecutive victories.

However, England, the defending RBS 6 Nations and world champions, saw their Grand Slam hopes fade away two weeks ago when they were defeated by Ireland.

Woodwards side will be eager to reproduce the performance that saw them defeat the French in the World Cup semi-final last November.

But Maso said: We are going to have to muscle and brush up our game for this final clash.

We won twice (against Italy and Scotland) by wide scores, which proves our ball retention is excellent, we have a flawless defence and our scrum is working perfectly.
Now we have to brush up our attack.

We have won four matches, and we are the only side in that position. This is nice but the best is to come.

We like to play the sort of match when the intensity is at its highest. That is the best way to transcend ourselves. It gives us extra strength.

Maso rejects the assertion that England have been weakened by the absences of Jonny Wilkinson and retired former captain Martin Johnson.

But he hopes their 19-13 defeat to Ireland at Twickenham might have somehow dented their legendary self-confidence.

I dont think we can say they are weaker than in Sydney, Maso continued.

Even though theyve lost two key players (Wilkinson and Johnson) they remain a war machine.

As weve seen against the Welsh, they destroy their rivals both physically and mentally.

This is what we will have to fight against on Saturday, we must deprive them of the ball.

The defeat to the Irish might have weakened them mentally, but thats rugby. We will see what happens at the weekend.

This match has a great meaning for us. We are about to win the eighth Grand Slam of our history.

It is so tough to reach such a high level of rugby that we only managed to win it seven times to far. But thats rugby.