France coach Guy Noves yesterday made just two changes to his starting lineup for the final Six Nations match against England at the Stade de France today.
The game had been billed as a potential title decider, but the French lost 29-18 to Scotland in Edinburgh last weekend to scupper their hopes against the unbeaten English.
Noves, in his first season as France coach, resisted the urge to make wholescale changes despite accusing his team of making “stupid mistakes” against the Scots.
The two he did make to the starting XV are both in the back row with Loann Goujon and Bernard Le Roux coming in to add some extra bulk in place of Yacouba Camara et Wenceslas Lauret.
Goujon, who will play at No.8, gets a start for the first time since the 55-35 loss to England in the Six Nations closer last year although he did come off the bench this year against Ireland, Wales and Scotland.
Le Roux last played in the 62-13 loss to the All Blacks in the World Cup quarter-finals last October.
Francois Trinh-Duc keeps his job at fly-half despite a stuttering display against the Scots as part of a backs division that is unchanged.
“We have confidence in Francois, like Jules,” Noves said in reference to Plisson, Trinh-Duc’s equally fallible replacement.
“The two support each other. We knew very well that Francois wasn’t going to arrive in full form. But we think these two lads have a sort of complementarity.”
Noves said he was “stubborn” and had not been forced into making a welter of changes to his team, notably the much-penalised front five.
“It’s not the fact that we were beaten by Scotland that we’re going to have a change of heart,” the ex-Toulouse coach said.
“What concerns us is that we have a goal which is to advance in our rugby, that’s what’s important.”
The choice of Goujon and Le Roux were to bring some freshness to the most demanding of positions in the backrow, Noves added.
“At the same time, you can see it adds bulk to our backrow given the power of the English players,” he said, referring to the England line-up of James Haskell, Chris Robshaw and Billy Vunipola.
“We are fully intent on roughing them, attacking them, in the best sense of the word.”
Noves added: “On the pitch we’re working on our game, but on the side we need to look at ourselves clinically and see what we can react to immediately.”
England will be going for their first Grand Slam since their World Cup winning year of 2003, while France will want to deny them that honour and finish with three wins against two defeats.
The France team for the final Six Nations match against England at the Stade de France on Saturday (2000GMT kickoff):
France (15-1)
Scott Spedding; Wesley Fofana, Gael Fickou, Maxime Mermoz, Virimi Vakatawa; Francois Trinh-Duc, Maxime Machenaud; Loann Goujon, Bernard Le Roux, Damien Chouly; Alexandre Flanquart, Yoann Maestri; Rabah Slimani, Guilhem Guirado (capt), Jefferson Poirot
Replacements: Camille Chat, Uini Atonio, Xavier Chiocci, Paul Jedrasiak, Wenceslas Lauret, Sebastien Bezy, Jules Plisson, Maxime Medard.
Guy Noves
