LUKE Charteris expects to be fit to take his place in the Welsh team to face France in Saturday’s World Cup semi-final in Auckland.

The 28-year-old Newport Gwent Dragons lock damaged his shoulder near the end of the first half of the quarter-final against Ireland and was unable to play any part in the second 40 minutes.

But after arriving with the rest of the squad in Auckland Charteris said, “It’s sore, but it should be pretty good to go.”

Neil Jenkins, the Wales kicking coach, was a bit more wary about Charteris’ prospects though, as he was with Rhys Priestland, who also injured a shoulder against the Irish. “We’ll see how Luke and Rhys go over the next few days,” he said.

Charteris is full of confidence, saying “Of course we can win the World Cup. There were 20 teams when it started, now it’s down to four. We want to be there when it’s down to two, then it’s anybody’s game.

“But France are a quality team, there is probably no better team in the world on paper.

“They are a hard team to beat and it will be another tough one, but the boys are confident and we are enjoying the whole experience.”

Charteris believes Wales must keep their structure and maintain a similar patter when it comes to the semi-final.

“If you start changing things around you start losing things,” he said.

“The coaches are trying to keep us relaxed, we will just enjoy the whole experience, “I would not say we are sat back and relaxed as most of the boys are nursing bodies and bruises after the Ireland game. We are just hoping for a nice dry evening.”

Wales scrum half Mike Phillips, probably the individual hero of Wales’ quarter-final victory with a brilliant game-turning try, admitted, “It was a pretty important try and the effort from all the boys was great, a credit to the team.

“These things happen and I didn’t think too much about the try. Everyone was in the zone and worked hard and defended together, I was just lucky to get the chance to score the try.

“Defensively we were spot on, our first up defence was great, as was our scramble defence though we don’t want to go over the top about it.

“France are a great side, everyone knows they can turn it on whenever they want and it was a good performance against England. I’ve got massive respect for them, on their day they can beat anyone and there are a lot of their players who can just turn it on.

“But we want to go out there and turn it on again and not worry too much about the occasion. It’s good to be in the semi-final, we need to focus and give our best.”

* For more World Cup rugby, see today's Argus