A look ahead at England’s 2014 Six Nations campaign and the first game against France

    The harrowing loss in Cardiff, suffered a little over a year ago, by Stuart Lancaster’s men, must have haunted his Red Rose army as they gear up once more, for a crack at their European rivals. That defeat served as a glaring reminder of how far England has yet to climb, in order to reach the euphoric heights of 2003 and after a mixed autumn period, it’s still very unclear as to where they currently stand. Everyone who’s been watching this side for the past year will tell you that the pack is now forming into an incredibly tight unit. A unit, which blew apart both Australia and Argentina and even managed to outmuscle their All Black counter-parts for sixty minutes.

     However, when you look behind the scrum it’s then you see the still evident problems with this developing England team. Five tries in one Six Nations campaign (four of which came against a struggling Scottish side for that matter) does not a champion make. It is still the art of scoring the five pointers that seem to elude the men in white and only two years out from a home world cup the opportunities to rectify this are fast running out. Second place has had to suffice Lancaster’s men in the two years he’s been in charge and all will be hoping that the charm of ‘third time lucky’ will prove a real chance to finally taste some silver ware.  

   

    However, the signs are for once rather promising as the team selection for England’s opener in Paris is unveiled. Debutants Jack Nowell and Luther Burrell have been given opportunities to test their international credentials after sterling efforts at club level, as well as Johny May, who once again steps up into the senior squad to win his second cap. If these youngsters can find their feet and withstand the pressure of a raucous Stade de France crowd then the issues of Chris Aston’s lack of form and Manu Tuilagi’s continued absence through injury may just be resolved. Danny Care has been electric for Harlequins and once again wins favour with the team selectors, causing him to leap frog both Lee Dixon and Ben Youngs for the scrum half position, resulting with the latter dropping out of the squad altogether.  All of which bodes well as his inclusion adds a certain bit of flair and cutting edge to England’s  attacking play, much criticised for its previous impotency and lack of creativity.

    Undoubtedly, all eyes will be on this new backline as the forwards remain unchanged from the eight that bullied the All Blacks and almost won England the game way back in November. France of course came just as close though, if not closer, to win over the same foe and so everything points to a real dogfight come kick off.

  

   Onto Les Blues then and after slipping from fourth place to sixth in a consecutive year running earning them the wooden spoon you’d have to say they can’t do any worse this time around. Philippe Saint-André is surely clinging onto his job by his finger nails and you would imagine, if he does have a plan for the direction of this side, albeit hard to gauge, it must surely be coming to fruition sometime soon. With a squad depth that almost rivals the world champions and a thriving domestic league in France he’s fast running out of excuses for the national side’s continued failure. The loss of beloved captain Thierry Dusautoir, former world player of the year, is an obvious blow. Yet, despite this, France’s pack still contains several class acts making them a match for anyone regardless of current form. The hulking behemoth that is Louis Picamoles will no doubt be making his presence felt from the back of the scrum with ball in hand. Whereas within the backline, Yuann Huget and Wesley Fofana will also attempt to crash through and dance past the English defence as they have been doing against opponents for their teams,Toulouse and Clermont  Auvergne respectively.

The only new charge for the French is coming in the form of Jules Plisson at Fly-Half in the wake of Remi Tale’s recent injury. First receiver has been a particular bug bear for Saint-André so it will be interesting to see how the new boy fits into the blue jersey.

      

   One of the on field battles to watch will be the fight between the two number eights Louis Picamoles and Billy Vunipola who both excel at bumping off would be tacklers and strolling over the gainline. Seeing these two collide will surely shake the Parisian foundations and set this up to be one of the more mouth-watering match ups this Saturday. In the backs it will be a case of who can gain the edge between the tried and tested French stalwarts or the young and exciting English newbies, the winners of which could be anyone’s guess.

Prediction;

     Unless the now infamous Stade de France turf holds true to reputation expect a bruising forward battle between these two sides meaning a bit of magic or a lucky decision are likely to be the deciding factor. England by 4  

Teams

France: 15 Brice Dulin, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Maxime Médard, 10 Jules Plisson, 9 Jean-Marc Doussain, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Bernard Le Roux, 6 Yannick Nyanga, 5 Pascal Papé (c), 4 Alexandre Flanquart, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Benjamin Kayser, 1 Thomas Domingo

Replacements: 16 Dimitri Szarzewski, 17 Yannick Forestier, 18 Rabah Slimani, 19 Yoann Maestri, 20 Antoine Burban, 21 Damien Chouly, 22 Maxime Machenaud, 23 Gael Fickou

England: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Jack Nowell, 13 Luther Burrell, 12 Billy Twelvetrees, 11 Jonny May, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Danny Care, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Chris Robshaw (c), 6 Tom Wood, 5 Courtney Lawes, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Joe Marler

Replacements: 16 Tom Youngs, 17 Mako Vunipola, 18 Henry Thomas, 19 Dave Attwood, 20 Ben Morgan, 21 Lee Dickson, 22 Brad Barritt, 23 Alex Goode

Date: Saturday, February 1

Venue: Stade de France, Paris

Kickoff: 18:00 (local, 17:00 GMT)

Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)

Assistant Referees: Alain Rolland (Ireland), Stuart Berry (South Africa)

TMO: Jim Yuille (Scotland)


Article by Alex Dodd