Six Nations preview - England v France

More 'Le Creak' than 'Le Crunch'

Given the poor performances of England and France last weekend, Sunday's Six Nations clash between the World Cup holders and the Six Nations champs at Twickenham is surely more 'Le Creak' than 'Le Crunch'.

Not to belittle the stirling performances put together by Wales and Scotland, but England and France were distinctly off-colour last weekend.

Forget about injuries and retirements, both these sides - who have won nine of the last 10 Six Nations titles between them, including six Grand Slams - have resources that the Celts could only dream of ... but still they struggled.

England's title hopes, already fading following their 11-9 defeat against Wales, will disappear without trace if France record a first win at 'HQ' since 1997 on Sunday.

France, meanwhile, are still on track for back-to-back Grand Slams following their turgid 16-9 victory win over the Scots, but they were lucky to escape from Stade de France with the win.

England coach Andy Robinson reacted to England's first reversal in Cardiff for 12 years by swinging the axe - rearranging almost half his team, including positional switches, to be exact.

Out go teenage centre Mathew Tait (who 'tactically' drops out of the squad), scrum-half Matt Dawson, flankers Chris Jones and Andy Hazell - together with injured prop Julian White - being replaced by Olly Barkley, Harry Ellis, Phil Vickery, Martin Corry and Lewis Moody.

France have also opted to shun continuity for upheaval - quite spectacularly so.

Not for the first time, coach Bernard Laporte has bamboozled pundits with a number of odd selections.

Scrum-half Pierre Mignoni didn't have the best game against Scotland, and he makes way Dimitri Yachvili who - along with Yann Delaigue - forms France's 24th different halfback partnership in 61 Tests.

Another Laporte innovation is to play Julien Bonnaire, the Bourgoin openside flanker, at No.8 while Sale's No 8 Sebastien Chabal lines up at openside.

Meanwhile, Jimmy Marlu, a natural right wing, will play on the left, and Damien Traille swaps position with Brian Liebenberg in the midfield.

So, can Laporte shed any light on his reasoning?

"We're going through an experimental phase," comes his enigmatic reply.

'Tis no wonder the French are worried.

But Les Bleus have a little more leeway than England, who have now lost seven of their last 10 Test matches and are aiming to avoid their third straight defeat in this competition.

Amid all the head-stratching, one thing is certain -  'Le Creak' will leave one of these two fumbling giants out of reach of the proverbial paddle.

Players to watch:

For England: For the second week running, Bath lock Danny Grewcock has escaped censure for two separate incidents of less-than-fancy footwork. Apparently it was all accidental. Sorry, but are we missing something here? A clumsy athlete? Wow, what a rare breed! Grewcock must mix with the honest politicians and the virginal prostitutes! The boy has just got the shortest fuse in world rugby, and the wily French forwards will be doing their best to ignite it. Sit back and watch Danny go 'boom'!

For France: With France going for the greater scrummaging prowess of Sale Sharks hooker Sébastien Bruno, sacrificing William Servat's superior all-round game, it is clear where they will look to take charge. Bruno - who will make his first Test start on Sunday - is massively strong and highly regarded by his peers, and would love nothing better than to put one over England's Steve Thompson.

Head to head: Dimitri Yachvili (France) v Harry Ellis (England): Dimitri Yachvili, man of the match against England in Paris last year, takes on the new wunderkind of English rugby, Harry Ellis, who begins his first match in an England jersey. The Englishman is all cut-and-thrust and prone to a little hot-headedness, whilst the cerebral Frenchman is as cool as they come. A nice contrast of styles.

Recent results:

2004: France won 24-21 in Paris
2003: England won 24-7 in Sydney (RWC)
2003: England won 45-14 in London
2003: France won 17-16 in Marseille 
2002: France won 20-15 in Paris
2001: England won 48-19 London
2000: England won 15-9 in Paris  
1999: England won 21-10 in London
1998: France won 24-17 in Paris
1997: France won 23-20 in London
1996: France won 15-12 in Paris

Prediction: Both side's to rise to the occassion, with desperate England to deny France at the death.
Planet Rugby prediction: England by 3 points.
sportingodds.com prediction: England by 4 points.

The teams:

France: 15 Pépito Elhorga (Agen), 14 Christophe Dominici (Stade Français), 13 Damien Traille (Biarritz), 12 Brian Liebenberg (Stade Français), 11 Jimmy Marlu (Biarritz), 10 Yann Delaigue (Castres), 9 Dimitri Yachvili (Biarritz), 8 Julien Bonnaire (Bourgoin), 7 Sébastien Chabal (Sale Sharks), 6 Serge Betsen (Biarritz), 5 Jérôme Thion (Biarritz), 4 Fabien Pelous (Stade Toulousain, captain), 3 Nicolas Mas (Perpignan), 2 Sébastien Bruno (Sale), 1 Sylvain Marconnet (Stade Français).
Replacements: 16 William Servat (Stade Toulousain), 17 Olivier Milloud (Bourgoin), 18 Grégory Lamboley (Stade Toulousain), 19 Yannick Nyanga (Béziers), 20 Pierre Mignoni (Clermont), 21 Frédéric Michalak (Stade Toulousain), 22 Jean-Philippe Grandclaude (Perpignan).

England: 15 Jason Robinson (Sale Sharks, captain), 14 Mark Cueto (Sale Sharks), 13 Jamie Noon (Newcastle Falcons), 12 Olly Barkley (Bath), 11 Josh Lewsey (London Wasps), 10 Charlie Hodgson (Sale Sharks), 9  Harry Ellis (Leicester Tigers), 8 Martin Corry (Leicester Tigers), 7 Lewis Moody (Leicester Tigers), 6 Joe Worsley (London Wasps), 5 Ben Kay (Leicester Tigers), 4 Danny Grewcock (Bath), 3 Phil Vickery (Gloucester), 2 Steve Thompson (Northampton Saints), 1 Graham Rowntree (Leicester Tigers).              
Replacements: 16 Andy Titterrell (Sale Sharks), 17 Andy Sheridan (Sale Sharks), 18 Steve Borthwick (Bath), 19 Andy Hazell (Gloucester), 20 Matt Dawson (London Wasps), 21 Henry Paul (Gloucester), 22 Ben Cohen (Northampton Saints).  

Date: Sunday, February 13
Kick-off: 15.00 GMT
Venue: Twickenham Stadium, London
Conditions: Dry, cloudy with sunny intervals. Max 7°C, min 2°C. Moderate westerly winds.
Referee: Paddy O'Brien (New Zealand)
Touch judges: Alan Lewis (Ireland), Huw Watkins (Wales)
Assessor: Jim Bailey (Wales)
Television match official: Giulio De Santis (Italy)