England Name Unchanged XV For France Clash

England Name Unchanged XV For France Clash

England have named an unchanged XV for Sunday's Six Nations fixture against France.


The impressive Owen Farrell has retained his place at fly-half and Charlie Hodgson, who missed the defeat against Wales a fortnight ago, returns to the bench.

Manu Tuilagi, who made his comeback to international action after struggling with injury, is named at centre alongside the promising Brad Barritt.

Interim England boss Stuart Lancaster justified his selection, by admitting that he was pleased with the performance of his backline against Wales.

As reported by BBC Sport, Lancaster said: “It was a forced change going into the Wales game but it was a chance to seen Owen, Brad and Manu together and I felt they delivered.

"They played well and there was no reason to change it really.

"[Scrum-half] Lee Dickson deserves to keep his spot for the tempo and what he brings.

"The back three got themselves into the game more and we think they will play a big part at the weekend, with France giving us plenty of ball in terms of kicking."

However, Lancaster has been criticised, particularly by Leicester Tigers bosses, for his omission of Toby Flood and Ben Youngs from his starting line-up.

Flood has found his chances limited in the new England set-up, while Youngs has been forced to play second fiddle to Lee Dickson, leading to Tigers' director of rugby Richard Cockerill to suggest that they should feature if Lancaster wants a running game.

Line-Ups:

England: Ben Foden; Chris Ashton, Manu Tuilagi, Brad Barritt, David Strettle; Owen Farrell, Lee Dickson; Alex Corbisiero, Dylan Hartley, Dan Cole; Mouritz Botha, Geoff Parling; Tom Croft, Chris Robshaw (captain), Ben Morgan.
Replacements: Rob Webber, Matt Stevens, Tom Palmer, Phil Dowson, Ben Youngs, Charlie Hodgson, Mike Brown.


France: Clement Poitrenaud; Vincent Clerc, Aurelien Rougerie, Wesley Fofana, Julien Malzieu; Lionel Beauxis, Julien Dupuy; Jean-Baptiste Poux, Dimitri Szarzewski, Nicolas Mas, Pascal Pape, Yoann Maestri, Thierry Dusautoir (captain), Julien Bonnaire, Imanol Harinordoquy.
Replacements:William Servat, Vincent Debaty, Lionel Nallet, Louis Picamoles, Francois Trinh-Duc, Morgan Parra, Maxime Mermoz.