France may be hosting the World Cup, but they cannot have everything their own way, as they discovered yesterday when tournament organisers forced them to leave their training base outside Paris because it gave them an unfair advantage.

Rugby World Cup officials told the French yesterday that they had to vacate their state-of-the-art headquarters in Marcoussis, 20 miles south of the capital, where they have been training since returning from Cardiff on Sunday. They have been staying at an official hotel but returning to the centre each day. “We accepted that and will no longer come here,” Jo Maso, the team manager, said. “They wanted all four semi-finalists to be treated the same. It’s the rule and it’s logical. If I’m still around [as manager] in New Zealand [for the next World Cup in 2011], I’ll make sure the same rule applies to the All Blacks.”

France stayed in Marcoussis for the pool matches, at the national rugby centre, which includes two training grounds as well as accommodation and medical facilities. The squad has been there since August 1 because it gives it privacy.

Bernard Laporte’s team will train at the Stade de France today and from tomorrow will switch to a complex in Boulogne-Billancourt. England had wanted to return to Versailles after their quarter-final in Marseilles on Saturday but were denied permission.

Laporte announced an unchanged team for Saturday’s semi-final. After their heroics in defeating New Zealand 20-18 last weekend, it was hardly surprising that the coach would keep faith with the same 22. “To pick the same team seemed the logical choice,” Laporte said. “There was nobody who would have brought more value to the side.” It means that Lionel Beauxis, who struggled to impose himself against the All Blacks, will start again at fly half, even though Frédéric Michalak made an instant impression when he came on. Laporte is perhaps mindful of how Michalak crumbled under pressure against England in the semi-final in Sydney four years ago.

“We have a hard match against an English team that smashed Australia up front,” Laporte said. “The English have something that few others have: pride. They always give 100 per cent. All year long they have battled with injury; if you look at their teams, they never had their best team out. We must not forget: this is the team that stopped us getting a grand slam.”