Weekend preview: England v Georgia, France v Red Roses
The preview, stats and team news ahead of England's games against France Women and Georgia Men on Saturday.
The Red Roses, the 2020 Women's Six Nations Grand Slam winners, are in action first on Saturday lunchtime when they travel to Grenoble looking for their third win in a row on French soil.
Head coach Simon Middleton has named Helena Rowland at fly half for her second cap with Zoe Harrison outside her at inside centre in two of six changes from the win over Italy two weeks ago. There is also a return to international rugby for Laura Keates whose last cap for her country was March 2017.
Eddie Jones' side welcome Georgia for their first Quilter International as part of the Autumn Nations Cup. It's the first game at Twickenham Stadium since they faced Wales in March.
There is a debut for Jack Willis at blind-side flanker while there are also first starts for England for prop Will Stuart and centre Ollie Lawrence.
France v Red Roses
- When? Saturday, 14 November
- Kick-off? 1315 GMT
- Where? Stades des Alpes, Grenoble
- Coverage? Live on BBC 2 and BBC iPlayer
England v Georgia
- When? Saturday, 14 November
- Kick-off? 1500 GMT
- Where? Twickenham Stadium, London
- Coverage? Live on Amazon Prime, BBC Radio 5 live, match centre on EnglandRugby.com
Views from the camp
Red Roses head coach Simon Middleton: ““We see this fixture as a big opportunity for some of our younger players to play away in France, which is always one of our toughest games. Given our two 2021 Six Nations games against France and Italy are both at home, this is a big opportunity to compete against top quality opposition away from home ahead of next year’s World Cup.
“Helena Rowland has really impressed since her return to XVs with Loughborough and deserves her chance. We’re really looking forward to seeing her link up with Zoe.
“Last but certainly not least, we are really pleased our two autumn games against France will be shown on BBC Two and our aim is to put on a show for everyone supporting from home.”
England head coach Eddie Jones: "We know there are a lot of expectations on us and we’ve applied ourselves hard and put a lot of pressure on ourselves in the early part of this week.
“Georgia will be a tough opponent, so we have a team with some real power in midfield. We have a good mix of youth and experience across the squad and they are completely focused on putting in an excellent performance on Saturday.
“We’re looking forward to being back at our home at Twickenham, we are humbled by the opportunity and want to give people a reason to smile during such a tough time for the country.”
Previous meetings
Women
2018 - France 18-17 England, Stade des Alpes (Six Nations)
2019 - England 41-26 France, Castle Park (Six Nations)
2019 - England 20-18 France, Chula Vista Elite Training Centre (Super Series)
2019 - France 10-20 England, Stade Marcel Michelin (Autumn International)
2019 - England 17-15 France, Sandy Park (Autumn International)
2020 - France 13-19 England, Stade du Hameau (Six Nations)
Men
2003 - England 84-6 Georgia, Subiaco Oval (Rugby World Cup)
2011 - England 41-10 Georgia, Forsyth Barr Stadium (Rugby World Cup)
Key stats
- England Men have won 25 of their last 28 home games (D1, L2), New Zealand and Ireland (both 2018) are the only sides to pick up victories at Twickenham in that time.
- The Red Roses are on a five-match winning streak against France and have won nine of the last 10 meetings
- Georgia Men's only win against one of the current Tier 1 nations came against Japan in 2014, the newest team to secure Tier 1 status (May 2020), they have lost all other 30 such matches.
- France Women are currently ranked fourth in the World Rugby rankings, two places behind England
- When England beat Georgia at the 2003 Rugby World Cup, 10 different players crossed for tries for England, a record in their World Cup history, in fact only three times has any side had more try scorers in a RWC match (New Zealand 13 v Portugal in 2007 and 11 v Japan in 2011, Australia 11 v Namibia in 2003)..
- England Women have had more Test matches against France than any team in their history, winning 33 of their meetings and losing 14
- England beat Georgia 41-10 at the 2011 Rugby World Cup, Ben Youngs is the only player to feature in that match who is in this current England squad for the Autumn Nations Cup.
Teams
Red Roses XV
15. Ellie Kildunne (Wasps FC Ladies, 9 caps)
14. Jess Breach (Harlequins Women, 14 caps)
13. Emily Scarratt (C; Loughborough Lightning, 90 caps)
12. Zoe Harrison (Saracens Women, 24 caps)
11. Abby Dow (Wasps FC Ladies, 13 caps)
10. Helena Rowland (Loughborough Lightning, 1 cap)
9. Leanne Riley (Harlequins Women, 37 caps)
1. Vickii Cornborough (Harlequins Women, 54 caps)
2. Amy Cokayne (Harlequins Women, 51 caps)
3. Shaunagh Brown (Harlequins Women, 18 caps)
4. Abbie Ward (VC; Harlequins Women, 43 caps)
5. Poppy Cleall (Saracens Women, 41 caps)
6. Alex Matthews (Worcester Warriors, 37 caps)
7. Marlie Packer (Saracens Women, 72 caps)
8. Sarah Beckett (Harlequins Women, 18 caps)
Finishers
16. Lark Davies (Loughborough Lightning, 26 caps)
17. Detysha Harper (Loughborough Lightning, 2 caps)
18. Laura Keates (Worcester Warriors, 60 caps)
19. Morwenna Talling (Loughborough Lightning, 1 cap)
20. Harriet Millar-Mills (Wasps FC Ladies, 56 caps)
21. Claudia MacDonald (Wasps FC Ladies, 10 caps)
22. Kelly Smith (Gloucester-Hartpury, 13 caps)
23. Megan Jones (Wasps FC Ladies, 9 caps
England Men XV
15. Elliot Daly (Saracens, 43 caps)
14. Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby, 51 caps)
13. Ollie Lawrence (Worcester Warriors, 1 cap)
12. Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs, 30 caps)
11. Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby, 57 caps)
10. Owen Farrell (c) (Saracens, 83 caps)
9. Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 100 caps)
1. Ellis Genge (Leicester Tigers, 19 caps)
2. Jamie George (Saracens, 50 caps)
3. Will Stuart (Bath Rugby, 4 caps)
4. Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby, 16 caps)
5. Joe Launchbury (Wasps, 65 caps)
6. Maro Itoje (Saracens, 39 caps)
7. Jack Willis (Wasps, uncapped)
8. Billy Vunipola (Saracens, 52 caps)
Finishers
16. Tom Dunn, (Bath Rugby, 1 cap)
17. Mako Vunipola (Saracens, 60 caps)
18. Kyle Sinckler (Bristol Bears, 36 caps)
19. Ben Earl (Bristol Bears, 4 caps)
20. Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, 24 caps)
21. Dan Robson (Wasps, 3 caps)
22. Max Malins (Bristol Bears, uncapped)
23. Joe Marchant (Harlequins, 3 caps)
