If England fans are looking for a comfortable victory, they need only glance at the following numbers to banish over-confidence: 1, 15, 2, 10, 2, 6, 23, 2, 4, 2, 12, 6, 5, 21.
These are the margins of victory, going back to France’s last win in 2018. (full scores below).
The two sides:
England
15 Ellie Kildunne, 14 Jess Breach, 13 Helena Rowland, 12 Tatyana Heard, 11 Abby Dow, 10 Holly Aitchison, 9 Mo Hunt, 1 Hannah Botterman, 2 Amy Cokayne 3 Maud Muir, 4 Zoe Aldcroft, 5 Morwenna Talling, 6 Maddie Feaunati, 7 Marlie Packer (captain), 8 Alex Matthews
16 Lark Atkin-Davies, 17 Mackenzie Carson, 18 Sarah Bern, 19 Lilli Ives Campion, 20 Poppy Cleall, 21 Lucy Packer, 22 Zoe Harrison, 23 Emily Scarratt
France
15 Chloé Jacquet 14 Cyrielle Banet 13 Nassira Konde 12 Marine Ménager 11 Emilie Boulard 10 Lina Tuy 9 Alexandra Chambon 1 Yllana Brosseau 2 Agathe Sochat 3 Assia Khalfaoui 4 Manaé Feleu (captain) 5 Madoussou Fall 6 Charlotte Escudero 7 Émeline Gros 8 Romane Ménager
16 Manon Bigot 17 Ambre Mwayembe 18 Rose Bernadou 19 Hina Ikahehegi 20 Séraphine Okemba 21 Téani Feleu 22 Pauline Bourdon Sansus 23 Gabrielle Vernier
Officials:
Referee: Kat Roche (USAR)
ARs: Clara Munarini (FIR) and Chelsea Gillespie (SRU) TMO: Andrew McMenemy (SRU)
Kat Roche is one of the six referees appointed to WXV1. The others are Aimee Barrett-Theron (SARU), Aurélie Groizeleau (FFR), Julianne Zussman (RC), Maggie Cogger-Orr (NZR) and Sara Cox (RFU).
Selections
It’s taken a long, long while to reduce vast squads to final 23s.
France
Two clear decisions: a pack as large and capable as possible = predictable; backs experimental = unpredictable. A half-back pairing with an eye on the future; a new centre-pairing, with Marine Ménager now brought to inside-centre (rather like Emily Scarratt).
Let’s say the joint-coaches’ eyes are fixed firmly on WXV and the World Cup. Regular first- choices, Pauline Bourdon Sansus and Gaby Vernier, can wait their turn in TW2.
England
Few, if any, surprises in the backs. Meg Jones’ injury allows a neat return to the estimable Helena Rowland. Sadia Kabeya’s absence allows Maddie Feaunati to claim the hotly contested No 6 shirt. One big call is Morwenna Talling to partner Zoe Aldcroft.
John Mitchell reveals little about his selection policies. We know that Sarah Bern is seen as still on her way back from injury, but not whether we can expect s new-look side to face Mitchell’s compatriots next week. Lilli Ives Campion, captain of the U20s, is the one uncapped player included – congratulations to her.
Is this a strong squad? Just look at the bench! It shows a former World Player of the Year and a former Player of the (6N) Tournament.
New bosses, new strategies
The two sides have one common policy: ‘Play faster!’ The French version is ‘Passer à la vitesse supérieure!’ Let’s hope spectators and cameras can keep up with play.
Mitchell set out that target in his early days in charge. The standards he observed when he arrived meant it can’t have been easy picking out one area that could and should be improved. Pace was his answer.
The French joint-coaches hardly needed to encourage their players to accelerate; they were already playing a rapid form of the game. The trouble was, errors kept halting progress. We’ll see on Saturday how far they have overcome weakesses apparent during their losses to Canada and Australia in last year’s WXV.
The Red Roses have got nearly every base covered; one of the most vital is bench-strength. Kiwi observers picked that out as a defining feature of their last contest. Quite apart from individual quality, it’s a question of experience at top level.
I hope the opposition believes Tatyana Heard when she calls herself a one-trick pony. Life would be much easier for them if she were. In her defence, she was referring to her position, No 12, which had been the source of instability ever since Rachael Burford played her last international.
Coverage: BBC1 in the UK and rugbypass.tv worldwide
Afterthoughts
A slogan for Les Bleues is: “Qui ose gagne!” (Who dares wins!) It’s that risk-taking that has proved their downfall on more than one occasion. Can they play the perfect faultless game?
Some of the party games the Red Roses have been enjoying should carry the health warning: “Don’t try this at home!”
The Weight of History
2018 France 18-17 England, Grenoble
2019 England 41-26 France, Doncaster
2019 France 18-20 England, Chula Vista
2019 France 10-20 England, Clermont-Ferrand 2019 England 17-15 France, Exeter
2020 France 13-19 England, Pau
2020 France 10-33 England, Grenoble
2020 England 25-23 France, Twickenham 2021 England 10-6 France, Stoop
2021 France 15-17 England, Lille
2022 France 12-24 England, Bayonne
2022 England 13-7 France, Whangarei
2023 England 38-33 France, Twickenham 2024 France 21-42 England, Bordeaux
