Here is the France lineup to play England, to avoid any doubt about which team will turn up.
France:
15 Scott Spedding
14 Noa Nakaitaci
13 Gaël Fickou
12 Rémi Lamerat
11 Virimi Vakatawa
10 Camille Lopez
9 Baptiste Serin
8 Louis Picamoles
7 Kévin Gourdon
6 Damien Chouly
5 Yoann Maestri
4 Sébastien Vahaamahina
3 Uini Atonio
2 Guilhem Guirado (c)
1 Cyril Baille
Replacements: 16 Clément Maynadier, 17 Xavier Chiocci, 18 Rabah Slimani, 19 Arthur Iturria, 20 Loann Goujon, 21 Maxime Machenaud, 22 Yoann Huget, 23 Jean-Marc Doussain
What do you think of this team?
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Maybe I’ve become complacent after England’s unbeaten run, but I can’t see this France team giving us any issues come Saturday afternoon.
I can see them giving us plenty of issues, massive tight 5, dynamite out wide and some skill inbetween.
I expect we will be really attacked in the scrum, take the pace out of the game (we are probably the fitter team), see if a scrum advantage can get them a 15 vs 14 situation and then exploit the space.
Playing at home we should win, but for me there is no doubt which French team is turning up …. the one that is coming to kick the sh*t out of us.
Yep and they have gone for form over reputation – Baptiste Serin at 9, Kévin Gourdon at 7 and Cyril Baille at loosehead. Maybe lacking some experience but definitely a more exciting side than I was expecting to face.
Plus those wingers… dangerous
If they click, they will be good.
For sure the French will take that route, but is that any different to the last 10 years? I like Lopez and this new 9 looks like a livewire, but i’m not so sure the centres are top drawer, and the wingers are a gamble.
On the English side, they may struggle in the scrum a little, which is why Mullan (and not Catt) concerns me a little, but other than that there are some tough characters in the English pack, and for sure the bench forwards will bring a lot of pace to the game in the last quarter. Far more than Goujon, Chiocci and Slimani.
Two scrum halves on the bench may not be such a bad idea particularly as I quite like the look of Doussain when he is playing at 10.