Preview: France vs England (Saturday, 8pm)
England have recalled wing Elliot Daly for their final Six Nations match against France, with Ethan Roots and Manu Tuilagi set to return from the bench.
Daly replaces Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, who was ruled out of the final game of England’s campaign on Tuesday because of a concussion sustained in their penultimate match against Ireland.
Daly stepping up means there is room for Tuilagi to come onto the bench where he will likely make his first appearance since England’s World Cup play-off victory against Argentina played in the same country, joined by Roots in the absence of injured Chandler Cunningham-South.
“After such a hard-fought win against Ireland last week, we realise how important it is to back that performance up with another similar display in Lyon on Saturday,” England boss Steve Borthwick said.
“France remain one of the very top sides in the world and will pose a great challenge for us.
“We’ve had a great preparation so far this week and there is a genuine sense of anticipation and determination around the camp as we head to what will be an exciting final weekend.”
France have kept an identical squad from the side that beat Wales, with coach Fabien Galthie showing faith in the same team that he had made eight changes for ahead of the 45-24 victory.
“Now this team is faced with a big challenge, beating England six days later,” Galthie said on Thursday. “They will have to stand up to it, be better than in Cardiff.”
“If you want to talk about energy, they brought lots and lots of energy,” he added, on the players that came in for the Wales game.
France have won three of their last four meetings against England, and the visitors have won just once on French soil in 12 years – the last time they won a Six Nations Grand Slam in 2016.
Last year’s clash saw France romp to a 53-10 thumping, which shattered their previous highest-ever winning margin against England of 25 points and condemned the then-hosts to the most convincing home defeat they have suffered in their history.
But England will come into this year’s clash with more confidence than they have had against Les Bleus for several years, with Saturday’s match proving to be the first time they have faced France on the back of a victory since 2019.
Conversely, despite the hosts’ impressive win against Wales on their travels last weekend, this will be the first time they have faced England without a realistic prospect of still winning the title since 2016.
They will need to win with a bonus point and overturn a points difference deficit of 76 points on table-leaders Ireland, whilst hoping last year’s champions don’t get anything out of their home game against Scotland.
But this week’s The Rugby Paper Podcast guest Maxime Mermoz is still backing France for a convincing win, despite Les Bleus’ failure to win on home soil so far this year and his own personal views on issues within the setup at the moment.
“[France] will really want to win at home,” he said. “I think they’ll want to have the love of the public, it’s always different in a home game and I think they’ll click and be able to do something good.
“I’m not sure about the England team. They’re not bad but they look heavy, not mobile enough in the forwards.”
FRANCE: Barre; Penaud, Fickou, Depoortere, Bielle-Biarrey; Ramos, Le Garrec; Baille, Marchand, Atonio, Flament, Meafou, Cros, Ollivon, Alldritt (c).
Replacements: Mauvaka, S Taofifenua, Colombe, R Taofifenua, Roumat, Boudehent, Lucu, Moefana.
ENGLAND: Furbank; Freeman, Slade, Lawrence, Daly; Ford, Mitchell; Genge, George (c), Cole, Itoje, Martin, Chessum, Underhill, Earl.
Replacements: Dan, Marler, Stuart, Roots, Dombrandt, Care, M Smith, Tuilagi.
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