England v France preview: facts, stats and teams
Ahead of England’s last Quilter International of 2020 and the Autumn Nations Cup final, here is everything you need to know.
Eddie Jones has made two changes to the starting XV as Ellis Genge and Anthony Watson replace the injured Mako Vunipola and Jonathan Joseph. England looking to make it four wins from four in their autumn campaign.
- England name team to face France at Twickenham
- The Next Level: the analysts and beating Wales
- Listen to Mako and Marler on England Rugby Podcast: O2 Inside Line
Fans will return to Twickenham Stadium for the first time since March as 2,000 people will be in attendance at The Home of England Rugby. Victory would extend England's winning run to nine matches and secure the Autumn Nations Cup.
France won 24-17 in Paris at the start of the year in the Guinness Six Nations, England's only defeat of 2020, and they have made six changes to the team that beat Italy including Baptiste Couilloud who captains the side on his first Test start.
Selevasio Tolofua will be making his debut for Les Bleus with Yoram Moefana and Hassane Kolingar starting for the first time. The French topped Group B with wins over Italy and Scotland and were awarded a victory over Fiji after they were unable to fulfil the fixture because of a COVID-19 outbreak in their squad.
- When? Sunday, 6 December
- Kick-off? 1400 GMT
- Where? Twickenham Stadium, London
- Coverage? Live on Amazon Prime, BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra, match centre on EnglandRugby.com
Views from the camp
England head coach Eddie Jones: “We’re really looking forward to this Final, playing France and having another chance to win a trophy this autumn.
“We’d like to congratulate the tournament organisers on putting this on in difficult circumstances.
“Over the past two months the players have put in real effort, worked very hard on and off the pitch and have met the protocols and new ways of working.
“This has been another positive learning week with tough, hard training and we’re looking forward to getting on the pitch in front of our fans and playing a good game of rugby."
England captain Owen Farrell: "They’ve got some youth coming into the squad that’s going to bring some enthusiasm and really go after it so we’re going to have to be on our toes in terms of how France are going to play.
"There are some players playing in their first Test matches but I’d imagine as every England-France game is, it will be an intense match.
"I’m chuffed that we’ve taken this step forward and hopefully it all goes really well and more fans will be allowed to come back – they’re a big part of it.
"We want the atmosphere back, we want the crowds back at Twickenham when it is safe but it is a good step forward this weekend.”
France head coach Fabien Galthié: ”When you prepare for an international match, there is a lot of organisation. There is a lot of analytical work.
“What is most striking about the team is the most common experience between the players. The challenge is to put in place an organisation that allows us to make the most of the time together.
“We are working a lot on strategy. The match in February (against England) helped us a lot. We’ll be ready on Sunday.”
Previous meetings
2013: England 23 – 13 France, Twickenham, London (Six Nations)
2014: France 26 – 24 England, Stade de France, Saint-Denis (Six Nations)
2015: England 55 – 35 France, Twickenham, London (Six Nations)
2015: England 19 – 14 France, Twickenham, London (World Cup warm-up)
2015: France 25 – 20 England, Stade de France, Saint-Denis (World Cup warm-up)
2016: France 21 – 31 England, Stade de France, Saint-Denis (Six Nations)
2017: England 19 – 16 France, Twickenham, London (Six Nations)
2018: France 22 – 16 England, Stade de France, Saint-Denis (Six Nations)
2019: England 44 – 8 France, Twickenham, London (Six Nations)
2020: France 24 – 17 England, Stade de France, Saint-Denis (Six Nations)
Key stats
- England have won their last seven games against France at Twickenham, their last such defeat coming in 2007, their last game there in 2019 saw England record their biggest victory (44-8) over Les Bleus since 1911.
- France beat England earlier this year in the Six Nations, they’ve not registered back to back wins over England since 2007, when they won a pair of World Cup warm-up games against them in August of that year.
- England have won 14 of their last 16 Tests (L2), including their last seven in a row – the last time they won more consecutive games was their record 18-game run between 2015 and 2017.
- France have won 11 of their last 13 matches (L2), including their last four in a row; they beat Scotland in their last away game and will now be searching for back to back away wins for the first time since 2010 when they beat Scotland and then Wales on the road.
- England are unbeaten in their last 12 matches in England (W11, D1), in fact they’ve lost just two of their last 30 on home soil, defeats to Ireland and New Zealand in 2018.
- England have the best success rates at the scrum (96%) and lineout (98%) in the 2020 Autumn Nations Cup, they also have the best tackle success rate (92%).
- France have used 41 players in the 2020 Autumn Nations Cup, more than any side in the competition, only Italy (26) have used fewer than England (28).
- Billy Vunipola is set to make his 50th start for England, he has made more carries (36) than any other player in the 2020 Autumn Nations Cup, in fact since his debut in 2013 he has made 258 more carries (659) and beaten 102 more defenders (138) than any other England forward.
- Jonny May has 31 tries for England, only Rory Underwood has more (49, Will Greenwood and Ben Cohen also have 31 each); he has seven tries in seven games against France, his most against any opponent with six of those seven tries coming in his last three games against Les Bleus.
Teams
England
15. Elliot Daly (Saracens, 46 caps)
14. Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby, 45 caps)
13. Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs, 33 caps)
12. Owen Farrell (C) (Saracens, 87 caps)
11. Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby, 60 caps)
10. George Ford (Leicester Tigers, 71 caps)
9. Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 103 caps)
1. Ellis Genge (Leicester Tigers, 22 caps)
2. Jamie George (Saracens, 53 caps)
3. Kyle Sinckler (Bristol Bears, 39 caps)
4. Maro Itoje (Saracens, 42 caps)
5. Joe Launchbury (Wasps, 68 caps)
6. Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, 27 caps)
7. Sam Underhill (Bath Rugby, 21 caps)
8. Billy Vunipola (Saracens, 55 caps)
Finishers
16. Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs, 25 caps)
17. Joe Marler (Harlequins, 71 caps)
18. Will Stuart (Bath Rugby, 7 caps)
19. Jonny Hill (Exeter Chiefs, 3 caps)
20. Ben Earl (Bristol Bears, 7 caps)
21. Dan Robson (Wasps, 6 caps)
22. Max Malins (Bristol Bears, 2 caps)
23. Joe Marchant (Harlequins, 4 caps)
France
15. Brice Dulin
14. Alivereti Raka
13. Jonathan Danty
12. Yoram Moefana
11. Gabin Villiere
10. Matthieu Jalibert
9. Baptiste Couilloud (C)
8. Selevasio Tolofua
7. Anthony Jelonch
6. Cameron Woki
5. Baptiste Pesenti
4. Killian Geraci
3. Dorian Aldegheri
2. Pierre Bourgarit
1. Hassane Kolingar
Replacements
16. Peato Mauvaka
17. Rodrigue Neti
18. Uini Atonio
19. Guillaume Ducat
20. Sekou Macalou
21. Sebastien Bezy
22. Louis Carbonel
23. Jean Pascal Barraque
How to watch on Amazon Prime
- Existing and new Prime members can watch live Autumn Nations Cup Rugby Union on hundreds of devices using the Prime Video app, across mobile, Fire TV, games consoles, Virgin’s V6 TV Box, BT TV, TalkTalk TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, online and many more. For a list of all compatible devices visit: www.amazon.co.uk/watchlivesport
- New customers will be able to join Amazon Prime for £7.99 per month, or £79 for the year
- Non-Prime members can also start a 30-day free trial of Amazon Prime to experience the Autumn Nations Cup on Prime Video
- Whilst using the Prime Video app, customers can click on ‘Autumn Nations Cup’ to view the tournament schedule and choose between a main coverage stream or individual matches.
