England out to revive former glory against France

Mitch PHILLIPS

It was not so long ago that England v France was the centrepiece and usually the decisive clash of the Six Nations championship but Sunday's Twickenham meeting will have a bearing on the title only for the visitors.

England, beaten by Wales and Ireland, have already waved goodbye to the title they last won in 2003, while France need to back up their home win over the Welsh with a Twickenham success to stay in the hunt for a third championship in four years.

In the penultimate round of matches Ireland seek to make it four wins out of four and stay on course for a grand slam when they play Scotland in Edinburgh on Saturday while Wales will look to boost their points tally ahead of their last-day meeting with the Irish, in the weekend opener in Rome (1500).

England and France won 12 of the 14 championships between 1991 and 2004 but England's second place last season was their best showing since their grand slam year of 2003.

The current side are miles away from that world-conquering team but manager Martin Johnson insists his side showed signs of progress in their narrow defeats in Cardiff and Dublin.

"In two, big passionate games we could have come away with wins. We didn't but the spirit and confidence is growing," he said.

"France present a different challenge. We watched them last week when they were very dynamic." French coach Marc Lievremont, having silenced his critics with the Welsh win, tinkered with his team this week again but this time it was to bring in a wealth of power experience. Prop Lionel Faure, lock Jerome Thion and the switch of Sebastien Chabal from second to back row should produce some seismic collisions with the likes of Joe Worsley and recalled 35-year-old lock Simon Shaw.

Ireland coach Declan Kidney, who named the same side for his first three games, made four changes for the Murrayfield trip as he seeks to find the balance between securing victory over Scotland while also keeping a fresh squad for a potential grand slam decider in Cardiff. The changes hardly weaken Ireland, as powerful centre Gordon D'Arcy makes his first start for a year and the experienced Peter Stringer slots back in at scrumhalf.

"The fact that I can bring in so many experienced, quality players shows the strength in depth that we currently have in the squad," said Kidney.Scotland are boosted by the return of Chris Paterson to their starting lineup.

Paterson, inexplicably left on the bench for the first three games of the tournament, starts at fullback.

LONDON,

Thursday Reuters