Enlarge imageBy Jean-Paul Couret
MARCOUSSIS, France (Reuters) - Unbeaten France are hoping a bit of youthful cheek will unhinge England’s experience in their Six Nations match at the Stade de France on Saturday (8 p.m. British time).
England beat France in the World Cup semi-finals in October. Four months on the clash of the flyhalves will speak volumes for the evolution of the two teams.
In the white corner Jonny Wilkinson, 29, boasts 67 caps and a record 1,056 international points. In the blue corner Francois Trinh-Duc, 21, has two caps and is yet to score.
Coach Marc Lievremont sent shock waves through the local media when he announced Trinh-Duc, scrumhalf Morgan Parra and number eight Louis Picamoles would start ’The Crunch’, as the French call the England game.
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Parra, 19, has 21 minutes of international action under his belt after coming on as a replacement against Scotland and Ireland while Picamoles, 22, received a baptism of fire in the last 13 minutes against the Irish.
"We hope these young players will bring enthusiasm and cheek to the team," Lievremont told reporters.
The France coach offered further proof of his willingness to take risks by leaving specialist goakickers Dimitri Yachvili and David Skrela on the bench.
"Damien Traille will be our number one goalkicker with Parra as reserve. It’s true Damien is not a kicker by trade but we trust him," said Lievremont.
"No goalkicker ? So what ? It only means we’ll have to score tries and then attempt to convert them," added Emile Ntamack, who is in charge of the backline.
England coach Brian Ashton resisted any temptation to reshuffle the squad that lost to Wales at Twickenham for the first time in 20 years and struggled to beat Italy.
Ashton made three changes but two of them were the return to the front row of Andrew Sheridan and captain Phil Vickery.
The third one was more on Lievremont’s line, handing a first start to 24-year-old scrumhalf Richard Wigglesworth at the expense of Andy Gomarsall while also warning other regulars could be axed if they performed poorly on Saturday.
"It is fair to say, and there is no point in hiding this because it has been said to the players, this is a big, big game for some players at the weekend. I am sure you know who they are as well as I do," said Ashton.
England field seven of the players who started the World Cup semi-final, Vickery, Sheridan, Wilkinson, Mark Regan, Simon Shaw, Nick Easter and Paul Sackey.
Six French players, Traille, Vincent Clerc, Cedric Heymans, David Marty, Thierry Dusautoir and Julien Bonnaire, will be out to erase the memory of their team’s 14-9 defeat.
"I’ve always been a massive admirer of French rugby and I’m delighted to see they are playing the type of (expansive) rugby they are playing at the moment," said Ashton.
"There’s no better challenge for us than playing France again."
Teams:
France: 15-Cedric Heymans, 14-Aurelien Rougerie, 13-David Marty, 12-Damien Traille, 11-Vincent Clerc, 10-Francois Trinh-Duc, 9-Morgan Parra; 8-Louis Picamoles, 7-Thierry Dusautoir, 6-Julien Bonnaire, 5-Pascal Pape, 4-Lionel Nallet (captain), 3-Nicolas Mas, 2-Dimitri Szarzewski, 1-Lionel Faure
Replacements: 16-William Servat, 17-Jean-Baptiste Poux, 18-Jerome Thion, 19-Fulgence Ouedraogo, 20-Dimitri Yachvili, 21-David Skrela, 22-Anthony Floch.
England: 15-Iain Balshaw, 14-Paul Sackey, 13-Jamie Noon, 12-Toby Flood, 11-Lesley Vainikolo, 10-Jonny Wilkinson, 9-Richard Wigglesworth; 8-Nick Easter, 7-Michael Lipman, 6-James Haskell, 5-Steve Borthwick, 4-Simon Shaw, 3-Phil Vickery, 2-Mark Regan, 1-Andrew Sheridan
Replacements: 16-Lee Mears, 17-Matt Stevens, 18-Ben Kay, 19-Tom Croft, 20-Paul Hodgson, 21-Danny Cipriani, 22-Mathew Tait.
Referee: Steve Walsh (New Zealand)
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