Preview: France v England
Preview, stats and facts ahead of England's clash with France in Paris on Saturday.
Eddie Jones’ men arrive in Paris looking to accomplish the difficult task of ending France's Grand Slam dreams. Les Bleus could claim their first Slam in twelve years should they win, but Jones is expecting England to finish the championship strongly.
| Date | Saturday 19 March |
| Venue | Stade de France |
| Coverage | ITV & BBC Radio 5 Live |
| Kick off | 8pm |
"We have a wonderful opportunity to play at Stade de France, which is one of the most iconic sporting stadiums in the world, in front of 82,000 fans full of life and expectation," he said.
"France have had a great Six Nations but we want to finish strong, so it's about creating our own party rather than spoiling theirs."
Teams
There is a return for Sam Underhill at openside flanker, who last featured for England in a win over South Africa in November 2021.
England
15. George Furbank, 14. Freddie Steward, 13. Joe Marchant, 12. Henry Slade, 11. Jack Nowell, 10. Marcus Smith, 9. Ben Youngs, 1. Ellis Genge, 2. Jamie George, 3. Will Stuart, 4. Maro Itoje, 5. Nick Isiekwe, 6. Courtney Lawes, 7. Sam Underhill, 8. Sam Simmonds.
Finishers
16. Nic Dolly, 17. Joe Marler, 18. Kyle Sinckler, 19. Ollie Chessum, 20. Alex Dombrandt, 21. Harry Randall, 22. George Ford, 23. Elliot Daly.
France
Here is how the hosts line up...
Stats & facts
England’s Maro Itoje has made five breakdown steals in the Guinness Six Nations in 2022, more than any other player; his teammate Alex Dombrandt is joint-second (4).
France’s Antoine Dupont (158) and England’s Marcus Smith (154) have made more metres over the gain line than any other half back in the Guinness Six Nations this year.
Smith has scored a try in each of his two away games with England, both during this year’s Guinness Six Nations (v Scotland and Italy) while Dupont registered a try and an assist in his last home game for Les Bleus (v Ireland).
Just one of the last nine Guinness Six Nations fixtures between France and England has been won by the away side on the day, a 31-21 victory for England in Paris in 2016, Les Bleus have won their two home games against England since then.
They are going to be a massively aroused team, they come through the centre with their big forwards and once they tie you up a little bit they spread the ball to their backs, but they don't do that without using their long kicking game to get them up the field.
France haven’t trailed at halftime in a home Test match since February 2018 (v Ireland), going into the break ahead on 19 occasions and level twice in their 21 matches since that fixture.
Views from camp
Jamie George: "We don’t want to give them set-piece ball because they can be dangerous off the back of that. It’s got to be something we disrupt but we’ve got a good plan in place. We’ve got great athletes in this team; when you’ve got the likes of Maro in your midst, he’s always going to come up with a good plan to go after it."
Eddie Jones:
Will Stuart: "We need to tactically outsmart France and get their pack running around, because we back ourselves to be fitter. It is an exciting game."
Previous encounters
2021 | England 23 - 20 France
2020 | England 22 - 19 France
2020 | France 24 - 17 England
2019 | England 44 - 8 France
2018 | France 22 - 16 England
