France v England: Team line-ups, kick-off time, key quotes, predictions, odds and where to watch on TV
Our guide to Sunday's Guinness Six Nations clash between France and England in Paris includes team news, predictions, statistics and more.
What time is kick off & what channel is it on?
The match, which takes place at the Stade de France in Paris, will start at 1500 GMT on Sunday February 2 and will be screened live on BBC.
France v England: Team news
France team: Bouthier; Thomas, Vakatawa, Fickou, Penaud; Ntamack, Dupont; Baille, Marchand, Haouas, Le Roux, Willemse, Cros, Ollivon (c), Alldritt.
Replacements: Mauvaka, Poirot, Bamba, Palu, Woki, Serin, Jalibert, Rattez.
England team: G Furbank (Northampton), J May (Leicester), M Tuilagi (Leicester), O Farrell (Saracens, capt), E Daly (Saracens), G Ford (Leicester), B Youngs (Leicester), J Marler (Harlequins), J George (Saracens), K Sinckler (Harlequins), M Itoje (Saracens), C Ewels (Bath), C Lawes (Northampton), S Underhill (Bath), T Curry (Sale).
Replacements: L Cowan-Dickie (Exeter), E Genge (Leicester), W Stuart (Bath), G Kruis (Saracens), L Ludlam (Northampton), W Heinz (Gloucester), O Devoto (Exeter), J Joseph (Bath).
France v England: Odds and tips
England begin their Six Nations quest with a tough away fixture which they are 8/15 to win. France, 11/8 for victory, are given a four-point handicap start by Sky Bet.
Tony Calvin preview: I have enough invested in a strong French opening performance to be going in personally again on any market here – and you will have too, if taking my outright advice – but clearly I would side with France on the handicap if pushed, even if the injury to hooker Camille Chat earlier in the week was a big loss and one that I was not happy at all to see.
France v England: Inside the camps
- Eddie Jones warns France of 'brutal' physicality
"It's a young French team that's won the Under-20s (World Cup) and is building towards the World Cup in 2023. There are a couple of ways you can go in that regard," Jones said.
"When I took over England in 2016 I kept experienced players and brought young players in.
"Test match rugby requires experience and France have decided not to take experience in, they've gone with youth. And they might be wrong, they might right.
"We don't know but it's going to test those young players because they will have never have played against a brutal physicality and intensity that we are going to play with on Sunday.
"This is not domestic rugby. You don't get that intensity in domestic rugby. That's why you call it Test rugby. You don't get that in Under-20s competitions.
"So at stages they're going to be looking at each other wanting to know where the answers are going to come from.
"There are not too many of them who have experienced that before. They don't have the experienced players to call on to say 'what do you do?' and that's going to be our intent.
"We played with that brutal physicality for the last four years and we just want to get better at it."
France v England: Recent meetings
2016 Six Nations: France 21-31 England (Stade de France)
2017 Six Nations: England 19-16 France (Twickenham)
2018 Six Nations: France 22-16 England (Stade de France)
2019 Six Nations: England 44-8 France (Twickenham)
Six Nations fixtures
Round One (February 1-2)
- Wales v Italy, Saturday Feb 1, 2.15pm, Principality Stadium, Cardiff; BBC and S4C; Ref - Luke Pearce (England)
- Ireland v Scotland, Saturday Feb 1, 4.45pm, Aviva Stadium, Dublin; ITV; Ref - Mathieu Raynal (France)
- France v England, Sunday Feb 2, 3pm, Stade de France, Paris; BBC; Ref - Nigel Owens (Wales)
Round Two (February 8-9)
- Ireland v Wales, Saturday Feb 8, 2.15pm, Aviva Stadium, Dublin; ITV and S4C; Ref - Romain Poite (France)
- Scotland v England, Saturday Feb 8, 4.45pm, BT Murrayfield, Edinburgh; BBC; Ref - Pascal Gauzere (France)
- France v Italy, Sunday Feb 9, 3.00pm, Stade de France, Paris; BBC; Ref - Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Round Three (February 22-23)
- Italy v Scotland, Saturday Feb 22, 2.15pm, Stadio Olimpico, Rome; ITV: Ref - Ben O'Keeffe (New Zealand)
- Wales v France, Saturday Feb 22, 4.45pm, Principality Stadium, Cardiff; BBC and S4C; Ref - Matt Carley (England)
- England v Ireland, Sunday Feb 23, 3.00pm, Twickenham, London; ITV; Ref - Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Round Four (March 7-8)
- Ireland v Italy, Saturday Mar 7, 2.15pm, Aviva Stadium, Dublin; BBC and S4C; Ref - Nic Berry (South Africa)
- England v Wales, Saturday Mar 7, 4.45pm, Twickenham, London; ITV; Ref - Ben O'Keeffe (New Zealand)
- Scotland v France, Sunday Mar 8, 3.00pm, BT Murrayfield, Edinburgh; BBC; Ref - Paul Williams (New Zealand)
Round Five (March 14)
- Wales v Scotland, Saturday Mar 14, 2.15pm, Principality Stadium, Cardiff; BBC and S4C; Ref - Angus Gardner (Australia)
- Italy v England, Saturday Mar 14, 4.45pm, Stadio Olimpico, Rome; ITV; Ref - Pascal Gauzere (France)
- France v Ireland, Saturday Mar 14, 8.00pm, Stade de France, Paris; BBC; Ref - Wayne Barnes (England)
MOST READ
