England and France will do battle in one of the most eagerly-awaited Guinness Six Nations matches of the 2023 Championship at Twickenham on Saturday.
Victory is essential for both teams, with the loser almost certainly ruled out of winning the title this year, and the winner staying firmly in contention.
Recent history favours England, with France’s Championship losing streak at Twickenham currently at eight matches, but Les Bleus beat England a year ago in Paris to win the Grand Slam.
Steve Borthwick has made the bold selection call to drop captain Owen Farrell, and go with Marcus Smith at fly-half.
Smith was excellent for Harlequins last weekend and makes his first start since Round 1’s Calcutta Cup defeat to Scotland.
Ellis Genge takes the armband in what is an otherwise unchanged team.
England team to face France: 15. Freddie Steward, 14. Max Malins, 13. Henry Slade, 12. Ollie Lawrence, 11. Anthony Watson, 10. Marcus Smith, 9. Jack van Poortvliet, 1. Ellis Genge, 2. Jamie George, 3. Kyle Sinckler, 4. Maro Itoje, 5. Ollie Chessum, 6. Lewis Ludlam, 7. Jack Willis, 8. Alex Dombrandt.
Replacements: 16. Jack Walker, 17. Mako Vunipola, 18. Dan Cole, 19. David Ribbans, 20. Ben Curry, 21. Alex Mitchell, 22. Owen Farrell, 23. Henry Arundell
Fabien Galthié has made three changes to the team that battled past Scotland at the Stade de France in Round 3.
Two of them are enforced, with Dorian Aldegheri replacing the suspended Mohamed Haouas at tighthead prop, and François Cros called up in place of the injured flanker Anthony Jelonch.
The third change comes in the backs, where Jonathan Danty makes his first start of the Championship in place of Yoram Moefana at inside centre.
Moefana drops to the bench, where he is joined by the returning Peato Mauvaka, Maxime Lucu and Melvyn Jaminet.
France team to face England: 15 Thomas Ramos, 14 Damian Penaud, 13 Gaël Fickou, 12 Jonathan Danty, 11 Ethan Dumortier, 10 Romain Ntamack, 9 Antoine Dupont (c), 1 Cyril Baille, 2 Julien Marchand, 3 Dorian Aldegheri, 4 Thibaud Flament, 5 Paul Willemse, 6 François Cros, 7 Charles Ollivon, 8 Grégory Alldritt
Replacements: 16 Peato Mauvaka 17 Reda Wardi, 18 Sipili Falatea, 19 Romain Taofifenua, 20 Sekou Macalou, 21 Maxime Lucu, 22 Yoram Moefana, 23 Melvyn Jaminet
