RBS 6N 2015 - England v France fan's pre match thoughts
By KBM
March 19 2015
England will kick off the final match of this year's RBS Six Nations, knowing what they have to do to win the Championship.
RBS Six Nations 2015
Final Match of the Tournament
England v France
Twickenham (The Home of Rugby - Saturday 21st March - Kick off 1700
England go into this match top of the table but level on points with Ireland and Wales. It will come down to a great deal of effort, and many points on the board but when it comes down to it this will be the deciding match of the tournament.
RBS Six Nations Championship
| Rank | Team | Played | Won | Draw | Lost | For | Against | Championship Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | England | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 102 | 65 | 6 | |
| 2 | Ireland | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 79 | 46 | 6 | |
| 3 | Wales | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 85 | 73 | 6 | |
| 4 | France | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 68 | 46 | 4 | |
| 5 | Italy | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 42 | 121 | 2 | |
| 6 | Scotland | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 63 | 88 | 0 | |
England, Ireland and Wales share the same Championship Points, while England's points difference of +37 puts them first, ahead of Ireland's +33 and Wales' +12.
Wales could spoil the party, they are playing Italy but they would need to win by a big score. Of course the Welsh are whinging now.... Rob Howley Wales Assistant Coach saying "All final day games in Six Nations tournaments should "probably" start at the same time".
In all honesty, I agree with him on this and hope they will look at it for the future. It does give England an unfair advantage, but hey they all have to win and win well to make a difference on the day.
Ireland are much closer but they are playing those rugged Scots at Murrayfield and I feel this might be a tough game as the Scots will be wanting a least one win from this tournament. Of course France and the other teams this day will be doing their bit to stop England lifting the NEW Six Nations Trophy. All very exciting stuff eh?
So England need to......... focus, up their game again and deliver not just for the team and management but for the fans as well.
England's Dan Cole - Picture paimages
'The House of Lancaster' has made only one change to the side that beat Scotland last weekend, bringing in Parling for Attwood, who was dropped from the whole squad. Nick Easter comes in on the replacements bench. Congratulations to Dan Cole who will get his 50th Cap today. Dan becomes the 40th Englishman, and only the 5th prop, to make 50 appearances for his country - but woe betide you Mr. Cole if you give any penalties away this day, I will not forgive you if you do!
As to France they have made two changes with Plisson coming in for the injured Lopez and Vincent Debaty for Eddy Ben Arousset. Of course we will not know what French team turns up on the day until the match starts but I reckon the French will be up for this one.
Such Fun! And there is more............ There has been a change of referee for this game, Nigel Owens (WRU) takes over from Steve Walsh for what will be his 15th game in charge in the Championship.
Now I don't know which one I prefer really but I will come down on the side of Owens - so Bring it on Now..........
COME ON ENGLAND
England: M Brown (Harlequins); A Watson (Bath), J Joseph (Bath), L Burrell (Northampton), J Nowell (Exeter); G Ford (Bath), B Youngs (Leicester); J Marler (Harlequins), D Hartley (Northampton), D Cole (Leicester), G Parling (Leicester), C Lawes (Northampton), J Haskell (Wasps), C.Robshaw (Harlequins, Captain), B Vunipola (Saracens).
Replacements: T Youngs (Leicester), M Vunipola (Saracens), K Brookes (Newcastle), N Easter (Harlequins), T Wood (Northampton), R Wigglesworth (Saracens), D Cipriani (Sale), B Twelvetrees (Gloucester).
France: S Spedding, Y Huget, G Fickou, M Mermoz, N Nakaitaci, J Plisson, S Tillous-Borde; V Debaty, G Guirado, N Mas, A Flanquart, Y Maestri, T Dusautoir (capt), B Le Roux, L Goujon.
Replacements: B Kayser, R Slimani, U Atonio, R Taofifenua, D Chouly, R Kockott, R Tales, M Bastareaud.
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.
France due a typical French open flair game that no one on earth can live with but ............ I've been saying that for 3 years.
England up last chasing a big Welsh and Irish score could count against us but .......... either side haven't scored too many tries this 6N's.
I wonder, be great if Wales got mullered as they have done before in Italy and Scotland strangle the game in Edinburgh.
Reality:
1. I'm expecting a comfortable Welsh win
2. A low scoring Irish win
3. England to have a mare ..............
![[:wor kid:]](/phorum-5.1.15/mods/smileys/images/13.gif "[:wor kid:]")