France v England preview: Les Bleus’ behemoths to overwhelm Red Rose in thrilling Six Nations finale
France lock Emmanuel Meafou in between half-backs Nolann Le Garrec and Alex Mitchell.
After the first three rounds, it looked like the Six Nations would end on a damp squib, but that has all changed after a thrilling fourth weekend of action.
It is fair to say that prior to their respective games with Ireland and Wales, England and France had endured a rather inauspicious tournament. They had both been lacklustre and error-strewn, culminating in dreadful performances against Scotland and Italy in late February.
The two head coaches, Steve Borthwick and Fabien Galthie were under real pressure, with the latter’s position being particularly scrutinised.
Fortunately for Galthie, he could sleep soundly on Sunday night after they overpowered the Welshmen to get back on track. In fact, it was comfortably their best performance since their Rugby World Cup exit as they set themselves up nicely for Le Crunch.
Les Bleus’ debutants – of which there were four in Cardiff – performed admirably and, as a unit, they looked far more assured. Quite whether the French are able to back that up, we will find out on ‘Super Saturday’.
That is also a question swirling around England’s camp at the moment, given their sudden improvement against Ireland. While there was the odd promising sign, allied by the obvious intent they had shown in their first three matches, their victory over the defending champions was a gargantuan leap forward.
But again, it all comes down to consistency. There may not be silverware available when the game kicks off in Lyon – Ireland will ultimately decide that – but there is still plenty at stake and the pressure is on both of these sets of players and coaches.
A bad performance and the knives will be out, but a victory will leave fans dreaming at what they can achieve going forward.
If both teams build on what they showed in Round Four, then a thrilling contest will finish off a Six Nations that has come to life in the second half of the competition.
Where the game will be won
France and England won the physical battle against their respective opponents last weekend, so no doubt there will be a big onus on winning the gain line. For Les Bleus in particular, the go-forward they managed to achieve close to the ruck was incredibly draining for Wales, and it paid off in the final quarter after they had emptied the bench.
Nolann Le Garrec’s inclusion also unsurprisingly made a big difference, given his ability to move the ball quicker from the base, and as a result, their pack managed to rumble forward with regularity. That will no doubt be a big challenge for the Red Rose to stop, even if they are genetically bigger than that Welsh outfit.
They themselves have some big units, including George Martin, whose bulk and work ethic made a real difference against Ireland, but even Borthwick doesn’t have players the size of Uini Atonio and Emmanuel Meafou available to him. England, therefore, know that they have a lot of work to do in the tighter exchanges, both at set-piece and in the loose, to gain a foothold there.
Should the Red Rose manage that, their attack can cause the hosts plenty of problems, providing they keep mistakes to a minimum – yes, the Scotland performance is still fresh in our minds. That France rearguard is strangely looking rather porous at the moment, and a poor Wales team found a number of gaping holes in Cardiff. Shaun Edwards certainly needs to rectify that, or the visitors will have plenty of joy in Lyon.
Last time they met
What they said
France head coach Galthie is pleased that they can finally have some consistency in selection after naming an unchanged 23 for Saturday.
“It was first of all last weekend’s performance which pushed us to bring back the same 23 players. The fact that there are no injuries means the possibility of continuing with the same team,” he said.
“We’ve only had six days to prepare for this match, and the team was moved around a lot last week before Wales.”
Galthie also thinks that England could want revenge this weekend after Les Bleus embarrassed them 53-10 at Twickenham in 2023.
“It is possible that the English will be vengeful,” he added. “We, for our part, have worked on an opponent who is coming off a huge performance against Ireland.
“A World Cup semi-finalist and a team full of confidence that is becoming a great England side again, so we focused on that subject.”
Meanwhile, England attack coach Richard Wigglesworth doesn’t expect that result to provide any added motivation for the Red Rose.
“I was not involved, and obviously, the squad has changed a lot,” he said.
“From watching on, the French were incredible that day, but things change week to week, never mind year to year, so it’s not something we have referenced.
“Steve took the lessons from it as he does and moves on.”
Wigglesworth knows the challenge that awaits England this weekend, especially after watching France produce a much-improved display in Round Four.
“They were back to challenging both sides of the ball. They had a bit more shape in attack where quality players can go at you. You have this magic out wide,” he said.
“I thought Ramos, considering he was playing 10, was very impressive and Le Garrec at nine made a difference to the tempo they played at. To score 40 points in another country is some performance.”
Players to watch
With Romain Ntamack and Matthieu Jalibert absent, Thomas Ramos is currently standing in at fly-half, and he did a good job against Wales. However, versus England’s rush defence, this will be a very different test for the maverick playmaker, who is prone to imploding when the pressure comes on. Ramos is a good kicker out of hand and reliable off the tee, though, so he shouldn’t let them down in that area; it is just about getting the decision-making right.
If he does then that will let Damian Penaud off the leash. Like much of the French squad, his impact has been limited in this tournament, but the wing was much better against Wales. Penaud caused numerous problems for the hosts last weekend, and he was unfortunate not to be rewarded with a try. The 27-year-old, who has touched down 36 times at Test level, is just two shy of Serge Blanco’s France record and would no doubt love to equal that in Lyon.
Should Penaud manage to draw level with Blanco then his forwards would have done their roles to perfection. Thanks to the quite considerable frames of Emmanuel Meafou and Uini Atonio, Les Bleus have a couple of gargantuan units that will be tough to stop on the gain line. They will both be primary carriers for the hosts, especially at close quarters, and their physicality can draw in the English defence, allowing France’s potent back three the space on the outside.
Damian Penaud 🔗 Maxime Lucu
France leave Cardiff with a bang ⚡#GuinnessSixNations | #WALvFRA pic.twitter.com/YUxBJ1ACJz
— ITV Rugby (@ITVRugby) March 10, 2024
In the set piece, Meafou won’t do a huge amount of jumping in the lineout, although his presence will be extremely useful at the maul, but in the scrum, his weight from the second row can be a real asset. Against Wales, he was in behind Atonio, so you rather feel sorry for England’s loosehead prop Ellis Genge, who has a huge job on his hands to negate the threat of those two. Equally, Dan Cole will have to be as sturdy as he was opposite Ireland’s Andrew Porter, as Cyril Baille is another top-quality operator.
Defence is obviously another key area for the visitors. While line speed and the wider channels have been their big focus in this tournament, they will need to be just as switched on closer to the ruck when they face France. Galthie’s men are quite happy to be direct, which means their destructive tacklers, namely George Martin and Sam Underhill, need to force the hosts’ carriers into reverse.
Equally, their job will be made much easier if the half-backs can find field position. George Ford has once again been trusted at 10, despite his place-kicking issues against Ireland, and Borthwick will expect him to guide them around the field. In fairness, Ford was excellent in all other facets last weekend as the fly-half finally got the backline moving, while his decision-making and kicking out of hand was generally superb. They just can’t afford some of the misses the playmaker had off the tee.
Main head-to-head
In Alex Mitchell, England seem to have found their first choice scrum-half. The Northampton Saints man has a fine all-round skill set with his threat around the fringes matched by his box-kicking ability. The speed of Mitchell’s service was vital to their victory against Ireland, while his length and accuracy of kicking allows England to put pressure on their opponents in other ways.
The 26-year-old, alongside half-back partner Ford, will look to keep France pinned back, otherwise Nolann Le Garrec will be very dangerous. Despite being just 21, Les Bleus seem to have found yet another exceptional number nine. He is certainly more suited to this French outfit than Maxime Lucu, considering the Antoine Dupont-like tempo he brings to the team. Le Garrec does it slightly differently, but the way he brought the big forwards into the game and over the gain line against Wales was very impressive. Galthie will be asking for the same from the youngster on Saturday.
Prediction
Given how these two teams played in the fourth round, this could well be an excellent match to end the Six Nations. It is just a matter of whether they can back up those displays which will ultimately decide who comes out on top. At the moment, we feel Galthie’s men have the physical edge and that pressure will ultimately yield a narrow final round win, despite their recent defensive lapses. France by five points.
Previous results
2023: France won 53-10 in London
2022: France won 25-13 in Paris
2021: England won 23-20 in London
2020: England won 22-19 in London
2020: France won 24-17 in Paris
2019: England won 44-8 in London
2018: France won 22-16 in Paris
2017: England won 19-16 in London
2016: England won 31-21 in Paris
2015: France won 25-20 in Paris
The teams
France: 15 Leo Barre, 14 Damian Penaud, 13 Gaël Fickou, 12 Nicolas Depoortere, 11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 10 Thomas Ramos, 9 Nolann Le Garrec, 8 Gregory Alldritt (c), 7 Charles Ollivon, 6 François Cros, 5 Emmanuel Meafou, 4 Thibaud Flament, 3 Uini Atonio, 2 Julien Marchand, 1 Cyril Baille
Replacements: 16 Peato Mauvaka, 17 Sebastien Taofifenua, 18 Georges-Henri Colombe, 19 Romain Taofifenua, 20 Alexandre Roumat, 21 Paul Boudehent, 22 Maxime Lucu, 23 Yoram Moefana
England: 15 George Furbank, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Ollie Lawrence, 11 Elliot Daly, 10 George Ford, 9 Alex Mitchell, 8 Ben Earl, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Ollie Chessum, 5 George Martin, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Jamie George (c), 1 Ellis Genge
Replacements: 16 Theo Dan, 17 Joe Marler, 18 Will Stuart, 19 Ethan Roots, 20 Alex Dombrandt, 21 Danny Care, 22 Marcus Smith, 23 Manu Tuilagi
Date: Saturday, March 16
Venue: Groupama Stadium, Lyon
Kick-off: 21:00 local (20:00 GMT)
Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia)
Assistant Referees: Nika Amashukeli (Georgia), Damian Schneider (Argentina)
TMO: Ben Whitehouse (Wales)