Key events
An email from Brendan Large
âAs an England fan the result is not so important (well assuming we avoid a shellacking like last year) but we need to show intent like the last couple of games. In my opinion England have been superior in the last two games. In Scotland we dropped more ball than we caught and Van Der Merwe seemed to catch all those we dropped whereas in Ireland it stuck and they ran them ragged. Another positive display could still be overcome by this top level France team, but a positive display would be more than we expected all those weeks ago.â
Tell you what would be a fantastic end to the tournament, a game even half as good as the fabulous fayre served up by the U2o teams last night. If you havenât seen it, then I suggest to take a look
Pre match reading
The Championship has been stitched up by Ireland, so what do you want to see from this game? Send all thoughts and predictions my way on an email or a post @bloodandmud
Teams
Fabien Galthie was happy enough with last week and so has named the same 23.
England are forced into one change, with breakout winger Immanuel Feyi-Waboso injured and replaced by Elliot Daly. Manu Tuilagi returns to a place on the bench.
FRANCE Léo Barré; Damian Penaud, Gael Fickou, Nicolas Depoortère, Louis Bielle-Biarrey; Thomas Ramos, Nolann Le Garrec; Cyril Baille, Julian Marchand, Uini Atonio, Thibaud Flament, Emmanuel Meafou, François Cros, Charles Ollivon, Gregory Alldritt.
Replacements: Peato Mauvaka, Sébastien Taofifénua, Georges-Henri Colombe, Romain Taofifénua, Alexandre Roumat, Paul Boudehent, Maxime Lucu, Yoram Moefana
ENGLAND George Furbank; Tommy Freeman, Henry Slade, Ollie Lawrence, Elliot Daly; George Ford, Alex Mitchell; Ellis Genge, Jamie George, San Cole, Maro Itoje, George Martin, Ollie Chessum, Sam Underhill, Ben Earl.
Replacements:Theo Dan, Joe Marler, Will Stuart, Ethan Roots, Alex Dombrandt, Danny Care, Marcus Smith, Manu Tuilagi
Preamble
âIf youâre so clever then why are you not rich?â is a question many will be asking England after the explosion of positivity following the victory of Ireland at Twickenham. Thereâs certainly no better way to show your bling than a result in France, moreso when it takes the W column to 4 in a year when not a great deal was expected of Steve Borthwickâs team.
Alloyed to the result last time out, the nature of the play in the last two matches is what has Borthwick and England fans more upbeat than at any time in the previous few years. But the Red Rose has had more false blooms than Alexander Flemingâs petri dish in the past two decades; today will see if this particular experiment is worth further development.
Speaking of experiments, France appear to have decided that the best way to deal with the loss of their two key fulcrums in Dupont and Ntamack is to keep chucking new backs into tombola to see what flies out. It worked to a point last week v Wales, mainly due to the forwards in the squad having roughly 1.45m newtons more force than the opposition. They are unlikely to have as much of a pushover ride against a re-energised England pack today, but they will still fancy the new and increasingly rapid backline to cause the still maturing defensive system of the visitors some problems.
