66 Friday March 18 2022 | the times
SportGuinness Six Nations
How they line up
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9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8England
G Furbank
F Steward
J Marchant
H Slade
J Nowell
M Smith
B Youngs
E Genge
J George
W Stuart
M Itoje
N Isiekwe
C Lawes
S Underhill
S SimmondsFrance
M Jaminet
D Penaud
G Fickou
J Danty
G Villière
R Ntamack
A Dupont
C Baille
J Marchand
U Atonio
C Woki
P Willemse
F Cros
A Jelonch
G AlldrittReplacements
N Dolly
J Marler
K Sinckler
O Chessum
A Dombrandt
H Randall
G Ford
E DalyReplacements
P Mauvaka
J-B Gros
M Haouas
R Taofifénua
T Flament
D Cretin
M Lucu
T Ramos
Kick-off 8pm. Referee J Peyper (SA).
Assistant M Adamson (Scot) and
F Murphy (Ire). TMO M Jonker (SA).For a second, the mask slipped. For a
second, Eddie Jones revealed a hint of
the pressure that is building on him and
England during an underwhelming Six
Nations. For a second, the England
head coach stopped framing this cham-
pionship in the context of next year’s
World Cup and acknowledged where
his team stand on the eve of their
toughest challenge of the campaign.
England have lost to Scotland and
Ireland, notched up an easy win against
Italy and flirted with disaster at home to
Wales as they almost blew a 17-0 lead
before holding on for a nervy victory.
Les Bleus in Paris, which is revelling in
grand-slam fever, will be another step
up altogether.
Defeat against France, who are chas-
ing their first clean sweep since 2010,
would likely condemn England to
consecutive bottom-half finishes in the
Six Nations for the first time since 2006.
Defeat would fuel the debate over
England’s direction of travel and
Jones’s future.
It is a fascinating debate, actually,
because in addition to a World Cup
final his autumn record with England is
outstanding, with a 16-15 loss against
the All Blacks in 2018 his only defeat at
Twickenham in six years of November
Tests. In the Six Nations he has deliv-
ered a grand slam and two titles but also
a pair of fifth places, maybe with a third
to come. In the past two Six Nations
campaigns, England have two wins in
seven against France, Ireland, Scotland
and Wales.
Jones himself may be convinced his
rebuilding project is on course for com-
pletion in time for the 2023 World Cup
but he acknowledged last night that it
needed the validation of victory. Only
results will bring a frustrated and impa-
tient public — and the RFU? — with
him for the next 18 months, through a
tour to Australia in the summer and an
autumn campaign that includes New
Zealand. “Do I think we’re going in the
right direction? I do,” Jones said. “But,
obviously, we need results. Saturday is
an important game, we all understand
that.”
To deliver what would be a stunning
and unexpected win in Paris, Jones has
picked a team for a very specific game-
plan, designed to win the kicking duel
and apply pressure on the ground. The
attacking verve and aggression
England have talked a great deal about
this Six Nations, without ever actually
delivering, will be secondary on
Saturday night.
Wales showed England the way.
France held on to win 13-9 in Cardiff
with a disciplined defensive perform-
ance forged in the spirit of Shaun
Edwards — after Wales succeeded in
energy around the ruck, particularly
when we are playing against a French
side that is going to take you on around
there,” Jones said.
The selection of Kyle Sinckler on the
bench a week after he appeared to be
knocked out against Ireland has placed
rugby’s concussion rules in a dubious
light once again.
Will Stuart will start because Sinc-
kler has barely trained for a fortnight,
initially because of a back problem and
this week because he was undertaking
the six-stage return-to-play protocol.
Rugby league and Australian rules
football have both extended their
return-to-play protocols to prevent a
player taking to the field a week after a
head injury.
Like Furbank, this will also be the big-
gest game in Stuart’s career because
France boast a formidable pack and
front row of Uini Atonio, Julien Mar-
chand and Cyrille Baille.
England’s set piece set the standard
against Ireland on Saturday, inspiring a
suffocating line-speed and kick chase
that knocked Ireland out of their stride
for long periods.
“We know we need to be better
against a French team that’s probably
close to their best,” Jones said.continued from back
Jones: We’ll silence French crowdreal want to be the best player he can
be.”
Sinckler was deemed unable to start,
having injured his back last week, and
suffered a head knock against Ireland,
which has afforded him little training
time. The prop passed the return-to-
play head-injury protocols yesterday.
Jones thinks that his side will be
ready to silence the French crowd,
having given them time off to recover
from the physical and emotional toll of
the Ireland defeat, during which they
played with 14 men for 78 minutes after
Ewels’s red card. His men have only
trained once this week in France.
“They’re jumping out of their skins,”
he said. “If they play with that intensity,
spirit and tactical discipline [shown
against Ireland] we’ll give ourselves a
hell of a chance to win.
“We know the crowd at the Stade de
France can either be extremely posi-
tive, or they can be quite quiet. When
they’re quiet it can be quite eerie there.
Then the quietness can turn to booing.
We’re hoping we might get them to the
extreme end of the negative side.”Jones finally
shortens his
outlook as
pressure rises
Alex Lowe
Rugby
Correspondentnullifying their dangerous attackers
such as Antoine Dupont and Romain
Ntamack.
Wales did so by winning the aerial
dual and therefore the territorial con-
test, and by targeting Cameron Woki in
the lineout to take away one of France’s
favoured attacking platforms.
As flagged up in The Times yesterday,
George Furbank will start at full back
with Freddie Steward switched to the
wing — a role he played for a period in
England’s victory over Australia in the
autumn. Ben Youngs is preferred at
scrum half to Harry Randall, again with
the kicking battle in mind.
“France are the highest and the long-
est kicking team in the world, so we
need to counter that, we need to find a
way to beat them in that area,” Jones,
62, said.
“That’s the way they get field position
— then they attack through their big
forward pack and create mismatches
for their big powerful wingers.
“There is a battle for metres on the
floor around the ruck and through the
air. We have got to win both those
battles to win the game.
“The way that France play, we think
that George is the best full back and
Freddie’s the best winger for us.”
Steward, the 6ft 5in Leicester Tigers
man, will be opposite Gabin Villière, the
5ft 11in France wing. “You don’t have to
be Einstein to work out we could have
an advantage in that area. We have to
create a situation where we create the
advantage,” Jones said.
It was in Paris two years ago that Fur-
bank made an inauspicious Test debut.
“This is the biggest game of his career
and he is well equipped to handle it,”
Jones said. “What you’ll see on Satur-
day is a much better prepared player
than you saw two years ago.”
Behind a team primed to kick, En-
gland have picked a back row to apply
pressure with Sam Simmonds, the
fleet-footed No 8, joined by Sam
Underhill, the destructive flanker who
starts due to the hamstring tear that
Tom Curry picked up against Ireland.
Underhill has barely played since the
autumn as he dealt with the effects of
concussion but his return will give En-
gland a powerful presence in defence
and at the breakdown; his challenge
being to help win those metres on the
ground.
“Sam at his best is one of the best
open-side flankers in the world. His
ability to chop tackle, his ability to get
his head over the ball, the ability to be a
powerful ball carrier, is second to none,”
Jones said.
England have picked three agile line-
out forwards — Courtney Lawes
remains at blind-side flanker and Maro
Itoje is joined in the second row by Nick
Isiekwe, who was preferred to the
mauling expertise and scrummaging
heft of Joe Launchbury.
“The lineout contest is obviously
going to be important and Nick is our
second best lineout exponent. He
played very well early in the Six
Nations. I feel like he can give us thatJones
turns to
kicking
game
In picking Freddie Steward on
the right wing, Eddie Jones has
signalled that England will turn
to a kicking game in a bid to halt
grand-slam chasing France. A full
back by trade and, at 6ft 5in, a force
under the high ball, Steward squares
off against Gabin Villière, who is the
significantly shorter man at 5ft 11in.
What’s more, in George Furbank,
England have another kicker who
can put up balls for Steward to chase.
And yet it is a gamble from Jones; in
his first Test start on the wing
Steward will have to defend against
one of the tournament’s most
dangerous players.o
Friday March 18 2022 |thhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeee ee ee etittttttttitittitititititittitititttttitttittitittititttititttttiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimememememememememememememmmememmmmmemmmemmememmememmemememmmememmemememmemememmmmmmmemmmememmmmmmmememmememmemmmmmmmmmmmemmemmmmmmemmemmemmmmmmmmmmemmmememmmmmmmmemmemmmmmmmmmemmmemeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssGeorge
Furbank
Position: full back
Club: Northampton Saints
Age: 25
England caps: 5
Height: 6ft
Weight: 13st 10lbFreddie
Steward
Position: wing
Club: Leicester Tigers
Age: 21
England caps: 5
Height: 6ft 5in
Weight: 16st 12lb