England coach Clive Woodward believes his team has been distracted by the knowledge it's been on a Rugby World Cup collision course with Australia for some weeks.

After England beat France 24-7 in wet and miserable conditions on Sunday night to set up a dream final, Woodward admitted he'd been eyeing a final with Australia for some time.

"If someone had asked me six weeks ago for my dream final I would have said England and Australia," Woodward said.

The England coach was one of the few who confidently predicted Australia's win over New Zealand on Saturday night but admitted over-confidence within his own team led to some problems in England's build-up, particularly in a dodgy quarterfinal win over a Wales team England treated too lightly.

"Ever since we beat South Africa (in pool play) we knew we were going to be playing France in this game and that came across in the Wales game."

But having scraped through that to reach the last four, England returned to their imperial best and crushed France with an all-round display of skill and concentration in horrendous conditions, with star five-eighth Jonny Wilkinson kicking all 24 points.

Woodward expected his team to improve even further when they meet Australia in the final.

"They (Australia) nullified the All Blacks - we've got a lot of respect for them but we know we can play.

"But we have a team of very experienced players who are going to rise to the challenge."

Meanwhile, England captain Martin Johnson urged as many England fans as possible to get to the final in order to give his team a lift.

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