England starting XV (555 caps)

15 Elliot Daly (Wasps, 26 caps), 14 Chris Ashton (Sale Sharks, 43 caps), 13 Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs, 18 caps), 12 Manu Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers, 28 caps), 11 Jonny May (Leicester Tigers, 41 caps), 10 Owen Farrell (Saracens, 66 caps) (c), 9 Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 81 caps), 1 Mako Vunipola (Saracens, 52 caps), 2 Jamie George (Saracens, 33 caps), 3 Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins, 18 caps), 4 Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints, 69 caps), 5 George Kruis (Saracens, 28 caps), 6 Mark Wilson (Newcastle Falcons, 9 caps), 7 Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, 6 caps), 8 Billy Vunipola (Saracens, 37 caps).

Finishers (249 caps)

16 Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs, 8 caps), 17 Ben Moon (Exeter Chiefs, 4 caps), 18 Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers, 82 caps), 19 Joe Launchbury (Wasps, 54 caps), 20 Nathan Hughes (Wasps, 19 caps), 21 Dan Robson (Wasps, uncapped), 22 George Ford (Leicester Tigers, 52 caps), 23 Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs, 30 caps).

France

15-Yoann Huget, 14-Damian Penaud, 13-Mathieu Bastareaud, 12-Geoffrey Doumayrou, 11-Gael Fickou, 10-Camille Lopez, 9-Morgan Parra; 1-Jefferson Poirot, 2-Guilhem Guirado (captain), 3-Demba Bamba, 4-Sebastien Vahaamahina, 5-Felix Lambey, 6-Yacouba Camara, 7-Arthur Iturria, 8-Louis Picamoles

Replacements: 16-Pierre Bourgarit, 17-Dany Priso, 18-Dorian Aldegheri, 19-Paul Willemse, 20-Gregory Alldritt, 21-Antoine Dupont, 22-Romain Ntamack, 23-Thomas Ramos

England head coach Eddie Jones: "After the Ireland game we have had to refocus and reset.

"The French are always an interesting side to play against.

"They are full of talent, they have a lot of unpredictability so it's hard to prepare tactically against them so we have had a real focus on ourselves."

France head coach Jacques Brunel: "England stays true to herself. We know they always impose their power.

"Last year we won shortly after suffering ourselves. Then they had a difficult phase that lasted three to four months. Since then they have found their form, as the match against Ireland attests.

"I was very impressed with their performance. They dominated most of the game by putting constant pressure on Ireland. In my eyes, it was an English demonstration."

Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
ARs: Andrew Brace (Ireland) & Brendon Pickerill (New Zealand)
TMO: Glenn Newman (New Zealand)

Cloudy with a 30% chance of rain. 8 degrees at kick-off with some limited rain expected on the Friday and Saturday leading up to match day

Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)

Owens is a top ref who will be in rwc. But he'll ref England off the park if they're not careful.

Sometimes seems to be more about him when he refs nowadays

45-3 sounds about right.

well done pigdogs.

Screwed us in the Jock game last year, but other than that I don't remember too many games where he's done England over (English clubs in Europe, on the other hand... )

I can see the scrum being much more of a factor this week - no way will the French look to just push straight and lock-out on our ball!

This will be a massacre; a shit Fr team against an English team full of confidence.

As Chuckles alluded to above, 2014 New Zealand tour. He spent a whole test interpreting any time England dropped the ball as a knock on even when it clearly went backwards. He's also done it to Wasps in Europe

I seem to recall him actually saying that it didn't matter what direction it left the hands, if you touched it and it hit the turf it was a knock on.

He didn't screw us at Murrayfield last year but it was a monumentally unsympathetic reffing performance. By the end of the game I'd given up trying to figure out what he wanted from us at the breakdown, as, clearly, did the players themselves. Like 30-3, the opposition beat us the fuck up and it looked like so much fun the ref decided to join in

The first 6 Nations game I have ever managed to get to. AM looking forward to it.

England need to show they can back up last week's performance. They have not shown much consistency of late so this will be a challenge for the coaching team. Think Mitchell might be key in this.

They were pretty consistent last year

It rarely works out that way.

It'll be close.

Aside from the reffing of the breakdown (where the jocks got away with absolute murder!), the two calls that irked me were the disallowed try and the one where he shouted play-on/no issue at a ruck, Care (I think) then intercepted the pass and was clean-through to score and he decided that, actually, it was a penalty!

This will be a massacre; a shit Fr team against an English team full of confidence.

France in France with filthy weather and a huge pack could be a close game.
France after a crushing loss in England means it's going to be a massacre.

Not so sure. They will be pissed at gift-wrapping Wales a victory. Could be a backlash.

Yep - that was pretty blatant and hugely frustrating.

This thread is a lot more fun than I thought it could be. Good to see you guys are over last year's Calcutta Cup game.

First England 3-point penalty was a perfectly good jackal by Watson.
Itoje was given a jackal penalty himself in the England 22 where he actually had to bend over Jonny Gray, the clear out man, to get his hands on the ball. Clear hands in the ruck by Itoje, penalty England - mere metres from their own try line.
The score line flattered you guys.

This thread is a lot more fun than I thought it could be. Good to see you guys are over last year's Calcutta Cup game.

First England 3-point penalty was a perfectly good jackal by Watson.
Itoje was given a jackal penalty himself in the England 22 where he actually had to bend over Jonny Gray, the clear out man, to get his hands on the ball. Clear hands in the ruck by Itoje, penalty England - mere metres from their own try line.
The score line flattered you guys.

Wait your turn, we're talking about Owens not Scotland