6N: England vs France Match Day Thread, Sat 23 Feb 5pm; BBC/RTÉ

thomond2006

VS

England:
15 Alex Goode, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 Mike Brown, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Ben Youngs,
8 Tom Wood, 7 Chris Robshaw (c), 6 Courtney Lawes, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Joe Marler.

Replacements: 16 Tom Youngs, 17 David Wilson, 18 Mako Vunipola, 19 Thomas Waldrom, 20 James Haskell, 21 Danny Care, 22 Toby Flood, 23 Billy Twelvetrees.

France:
15 Yoann Huget, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Benjamin Fall, 10 Francois Trinh-Duc, 9 Morgan Parra,
8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Thierry Dusautoir, 6 Yannick Nyanga, 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Christophe Samson, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Benjamin Kayser, 1 Thomas Domingo

Replacements: 16 Dimitri Szarzewski, 17 Vincent Debaty, 18 Luc Ducalcon, 19 Jocelino Suta, 20 Antonie Claassen, 21 Maxime Machenaud, 22 Frederic Michalak, 23 Florian Fritz.

Date: Saturday, 23 February
Venue: Twickenham
Kick-off: 17:00 GMT
Weather: 0° C. Cold and generally cloudy with the occasional light wintry shower. Brisk, cold winds.
Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant referees: John Lacey (Ireland), Leighton Hodges (Wales)
Television match official: Jim Yuille (Scotland)

C'est Le Crunch! England face France in an eagerly anticipated match at Twickenham. England have their radar set on capturing the Grand Slam while France have a new look side after two poor performances which has seen the knives sharpened in the French press towards the current management.

Selections

England have made three changes to the starting lineup that faced Ireland. Courtney Lawes start at blindside flanker ahead of James Haskell, Manu Tuilagi gets back his starting berth at outside centre while Dylan Hartley starts at hooker.

France have made wholesale change to their 23. Domingo, Kayser, Samson, Nyanga, Parra, Trinh-Duc and Clerc are the new starters. Wesley Fofana has been moved to his regular club position of inside centre. Castres' South African Antoine Classen could earn his first cap from the bench. The likes of Forrestier and Mermoz have been dropped from the 23.

Prediction:
France, as the premier trolls when it comes to playing as expected, have the ability to win this game with their improved lineup despite the turgid rubbish they have delighted viewers with in the previous two fixtures. Vincent Clerc is the ultimate try poacher and Fofana will see more ball from 12 than on the wing. In their victories over Scotland and Ireland, England have shown they can play both a running and conservative game. However their personnel changes all have a history of ill-discipline. France's recent record at Twickenham has been horrible and one should expect the more consistent hosts to have enough to win. England by 7-10 points.

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Teams taken from Planet Rugby
Player images - INPHO Photgraphy, Getty Images.
RBS Six Nations copyright Six Nations Rugby Ltd,
France logo - copyright La Fédération Française de Rugby 2013
England logo - copyright Rugby Football Union 2013

Everything else is my own work.

toomevara

France starting with Trinh-Duc and Parra at half-back gives them at least a fighting chance. Trinh-Duc isn't the best but at least he wont be a passenger like Freddie. Saint - Andre has apparently told them to play with verve and élan and not worry about structure etc...You'd have to fancy Enger-land but at the same time this is ripe for one of those once off French performances, they won't want to be humiliated at twickenham.

CoDy1

Think the French will win this.

.ak

At some stage France are gonna play a blinder. Just don't think it's gonna be after 2 week break and away to England after a raft of changes. Expect a decent game, but they'll just be sharpening their talons for Ireland. Murphy's Law and all that.

iroced

England by 1-7

thomond2006 wrote: »

Prediction:
France, as the premier trolls when it comes to playing as expected, have the ability to win this game with their improved lineup despite the turgid rubbish they have delighted viewers with in the previous two fixtures. Vincent Clerc is the ultimate try poacher and Fofana will see more ball from 12 than on the wing. In their victories over Scotland and Ireland, England have shown they can play both a running and conservative game. However their personnel changes all have a history of ill-discipline. France's recent record at Twickenham has been horrible and one should expect the more consistent hosts to have enough to win. England by 7-10 points.

thomond, you've said it all in this little paragraph.

I'll add that Clerc is just back from injury so we can't ask him too much. He'll probably lack rhythm.

I think the English physicality, confidence and positive dynamic will be too much to cope with for us. We'll certainly fight hard not to be humiliated in our usual graveyard but the very best I can see is an encouraging performance with some good but inconsistent rugby phases leading to a short defeat by less than 7 points.
So if I mix everything up I'd say England by 7-10 points too.

Neoulous

England by 1-7

As much as it's painful to admit I'm afraid we'll be the ones to hear "sorry good game" Saturday evening...

stinkbomb

Craig Joubert is the referee. He owes the french a big favour after what he did to them in the world cup final. I agree they've a chance with the right team on the field at last but it'll take a massive performance to win. Would be great for the tournament though. Allez les blues!

BoarHunter

France by more than 7

stinkbomb wrote: »

Craig Joubert is the referee. He owes the french a big favour after what he did to them in the world cup final. I agree they've a chance with the right team on the field at last but it'll take a massive performance to win. Would be great for the tournament though. Allez les blues!

He already reffed France once after this awful Display in the world cup final that was against Wales last year in Cardiff and he didn't do us any favor. I don't that will be any different today.

Having said that I think picking TD at outhalf means France will target the 10 channel of England. TD has the capacity to bulley a player like Farell. Lancaster knows that and decided to put Lawes as a guardian in that zone.

If TD manages to make ground in that zone then England will be in trouble as Fofana will exploit any gap behind him. This is for me the key battle of the match.
To win that battle France have strenghten their front 5 with more muscle and I believe Claseens will be out in the pitch early enough

thomond2006

England by 1-7

No matter what happens today, you just know France are gonna turn up in two weeks time.

In any case, allez les bleus!

pynchy

England to implode

France to turn on the class

What are the conditions like?

Pudsy33

Hopefully its drier than Rome anyway. I think the French will really turn on the style today, but even then I think England will sneak it.

Celly Smunt

vive la France! Allez les bleus!

chupacabra

Should be a decent game.

19543261

England by 1-7

Why do we want France to win, point wise?

pynchy

Air temperature = 0 celcius

No precipitation though which is what counts

two wheels good

pmcmahon wrote: »

vive la France! Allez les bleus!

Au contraire, mon ami. Come on England!

pynchy

19543261 wrote: »

Why do we want France to win, point wise?

So England dont win grand slam, France have already lost 2 so they are out of contention.

Tox56

BBC just going through the French team.. it makes you wonder how can they be so feckin hopeless at times with those players at their disposal..

thomond2006

England by 1-7

I agree with Hook on Rougerie. If he can still play at a high level for a club like Clermont, he can still go at international level. He's 33 in September so he could still be around come RWC time.

LeeroyJones

France by a score

ALLEZ!

duckysauce

ALLEZ LES BLUES

ednwireland

come on england !

dastardly00

what a dress! :eek:

pynchy

This is the match of the 6nations, maybe the england vs wales might be.

I think France are really up for this, never mind twickenham and all that, in fact they could possibly be worst off in Paris with their own fans booing them.

GreeBo

Now *thats* a dress.

decisions

'Mon the frogs!

Spudmonkey

Who is yer wan? Cracker.

Anyone

Lol BBC are a joke, bigging up this French team and stating that yes England are boring but all that matters is winning.

I expect the usual English crap....boring crap, kick for position and win penalties......yawn fest.

ALLEZ LES BLEUS!!

decisions

Be honest lads you's weren't looking at the dress...

.ak

Basty vs Tuilagi will be interesting.

ednwireland

Spudmonkey wrote: »

Who is yer wan? Cracker.

laura wright

inverdale reckoned she needed something thermal on under that

anyway to the rugby

Swiwi

Awful from Maestri - wee gift for England.

Spudmonkey

ednwireland wrote: »

laura wright

inverdale reckoned she needed something thermal on under that

anyway to the rugby

I thought she was grand as she was!

decisions

Fafana!

2 min in his best position and he makes something happen.

from_atozinc

dastardly00 wrote: »

what a dress! :eek:

What's her name ?
Very good looking

pynchy

ok now we have a game!

Boo yeah!

duckysauce

gwan france

pynchy

That chip through is exactly how to deal with the rush defence

decisions

So the French have finally turned up to the party!

Game on!

Swiwi

Nice scrum - French look up for this game....bout time.

duckysauce

craig is a waste of space

thomond2006

England by 1-7

Farrell has a tendancy of getting involved in needless niggle.

RuggieBear

oh ffs...another ref who doesn't know scrums

pynchy

Craig is alright.

The quality of this game is so much higher than the wales game

pynchy

Craig is alright.

The quality of this game is so much higher than the wales game

Swiwi

Pen count is mounting fast....ahhh

duckysauce

pynchy wrote: »

Craig is alright.

captbarnacles

Some contest at the breakdown

Anyone

thomond2006 wrote: »

Farrell has a tendancy of getting involved in needless niggle.

Probably trying to keep warm since he isnt involved in the game.

Artful_Badger

France look well up for this. Finally see what England are actually made of.

duckysauce

massive differance with Parra at sh