France v England

[Mr.cyclopede]

Floch is called to take Poitrenaud's place

 

[Lan]

Really unluckly, he had made a really good season's beginning with the Stade Toulousain.

 

[getofmeland]

<div align="center"> </div><div align="center">

Forwards: S Borthwick (Bath), G Chuter (Leicester), T Croft (Leicester), L Deacon (Leicester), N Easter (Harlequins), J Haskell (Wasps), B Kay (Leicester), M Lipman (Bath), L Mears (Bath), L Narraway (Gloucester), T Payne (Wasps), M Regan (Bristol), S Shaw (Wasps), A Sheridan (Sale Sharks), M Stevens (Bath), P Vickery (Wasps, capt), J Worsley (Wasps)

From BBC Sport
​

 

[Stillknox]

Huge news: JB Elissalde is out... and guess who replaces him ? Dimitri Yachvili aka Enland worst nightmare... yeah, i know he was terrible last year but he beat England by himself in 04, 05 and 06. (scored almost 20 points at each game !)

Love this player but he has been in poor form since last year and injured 3 months this season... he played only one entire game last week. I don't know what to expect. At least, we'll have a good goalkicker.

Brugnaut is out too, and that is great news considering how crap he was against Scotland and Ireland... nothing against him but he's too weak for le Crunch... Jean Baptiste Poux replaces him.

 

[shtove]

I've lost track of Mignoni - what's up with him?

 

[Stillknox]

I've lost track of Mignoni - what's up with him? [/b]

Mignoni is excellent with Clermont (you must have seen it against Munster...) but he seems not to enter into Lievremont & co plans. I think this is because of his age (31, 32 ?) and because Elissalde has more 'brain', vision and leadership than him. They want one experienced player and one youngster for the future (like Skrela/Trinh-duc) and Elissalde is prefered to Mignoni...

And with Elissalde out we need another goalkicker. Yach' is the only other international scrum-half able to kick in France.

 

[Nidhogg]

I'm hoping for a Parra/Trinh-Duc start. Traille can kick the goals, let's see what these two youngsters have to offer.

 

[Charles]

You got it mate. Here's the Starting XV

Lionel Faure, Dimitri Szarzewski , Nicolas Mas,
Lionel Nallet &copy;, Romain Millo-Chluski,
Julien Bonnaire,Louis Picamoles Thierry Dusautoir,
(m) Morgan Parra, (o) François Trinh-Duc,
Vincent Clerc, Damien Traille, David Marty, Aurélien Rougerie
Cédric Heymans

 

[Stillknox]

Starting XV:

Heymans

Rougerie
Marty
Traille
Clerc

Trinh-Duc
Parra

Bonnaire
Picamoles
Dusautoir

Millo-Chluski
Nallet (cap)

Mas
Szarzewski
Faure

Lievremont is crazy ! Parra & Trinh-Duc are starting, Millo-Chluski too, 0 goalkicker on the field. Yes Traille can kick, but more for the long range/front of the post penalties... he's not so accurate. I heard Trinh-Duc is training for goalkicking since a few weeks, but I don't know what to expect from him.

Pretty risky again but more clever than the Ireland's strategy. We could have some experienced players like Papé, Skrela, Yachivili, Poux for the second half, no risk to 'do an England' this time. But the first half and the coolness or not of this two youngsters will be capital.

 

[An Tarbh]

Does he kick for Montpellier?

 

[Kyle Broflowsky]

Lievremont is crazy ! Parra & Trinh-Duc are starting, Millo-Chluski too, 0 goalkicker on the field. Yes Traille can kick, but more for the long range/front of the post penalties... he's not so accurate. I heard Trinh-Duc is training for goalkicking since a few weeks, but I don't know what to expect from him.

Pretty risky again but more clever than the Ireland's strategy. We could have some experienced players like Papé, Skrela, Yachivili, Poux for the second half, no risk to 'do an England' this time. But the first half and the coolness or not of this two youngsters will be capital.
[/b]

Crazy? No I think it's good cos' we're here to build and prepare a team for the future. Now you can experiment stuffs. Not when you're in quarter final of a world cup... Parra has to start one day or another. I'm happy to see again Millo-chlusky who did a good game against Springboks in 2005.I'd like to see more from Picamoles. You got a point on the kicker issue and good analye regarding the second half though.

This 6N is really low level. The way teams are currently playing, they would suffer severe loss against SH teams. But, I'm really eager to see this old school battle between an English team dominating forward and French trying to save theirs asses by setting fire on the field with their backline.

 

[Stillknox]

<div class='quotemain'>

Lievremont is crazy ! Parra & Trinh-Duc are starting, Millo-Chluski too, 0 goalkicker on the field. Yes Traille can kick, but more for the long range/front of the post penalties... he's not so accurate. I heard Trinh-Duc is training for goalkicking since a few weeks, but I don't know what to expect from him.

Pretty risky again but more clever than the Ireland's strategy. We could have some experienced players like Papé, Skrela, Yachivili, Poux for the second half, no risk to 'do an England' this time. But the first half and the coolness or not of this two youngsters will be capital.
[/b]

Crazy? No I think it's good cos' we're here to build and prepare a team for the future. Now you can experiment stuffs. Not when you're in quarter final of a world cup... Parra has to start one day or another. I'm happy to see again Millo-chlusky who did a good game against Springboks in 2005.I'd like to see more from Picamoles. You got a point on the kicker issue and good analye regarding the second half though.

This 6N is really low level. The way teams are currently playing, they would suffer severe loss against SH teams. But, I'm really eager to see this old school battle between an English team dominating forward and French trying to save theirs asses by setting fire on the field with their backline. [/b][/quote]

By crazy I wanted to say daring. Put on the starting XV an axe 8-9-10 of 20 years old, for a capital Crunch in the Stade de France, at 21.00 pm for a game who will be watching by a large audience, it's audacious. You put an enourmos pressure under their young shoulders. And with no real goalkicker, it's a bet on the famous 'french flair', but England's defense is by far better than Ireland or Scotland.

No miserstanding, I'm pretty excited by this XV and I think that Liveremont & co is the better thing that could happen after Laporte. But honestly, it could be a succes, or a disaster...

Does he kick for Montpellier? [/b]

No, he's not even the third goalkicker in the team... McHugh, Todeschini, Bortolussi... and then him

But whathever Lievremont said that Traille will be the kicker saturday.

 

[An Tarbh]

You'd have thought given Yachvili's liking for England that he would have been a decent bet to start once Ellisalde was ruled out.

 

[SaintsFan_Webby]

If I was French I wouldn't worry about not having a kicker. Smart money is on the same English rabble being picked as started the last 2 matches (injuries excepted), Balshaw et al.

Funny how a sense of optimism can regress to the same overwhelming feelings of hopelessness in the space of a few short weeks.

 

[Nidhogg]

Lievremont = God

Please knock down l'Arc de Triomphe and put a statue of the man there. I was contemplating a date for saturday, but after seeing this, that's out of the question. Now if only he'd put in Ouedraogo for Bonnaire, that would make my day.

France to win by 2 tries.

 

[pallaovale]

France against England. The MATCH of 6 Nations.

I will be there to see the match.

Wonderful!

 

[jb0708]

England team:
Backs

Balshaw (Gloucester);
Sackey (Wasps),
Noon (Newcastle),
Flood (Newcastle),
Vainikolo (Gloucester);
Wilkinson (Newcastle),
Wigglesworth (Sale);

Forwards

Sheridan (Sale Sharks),
Regan (Bristol),
Vickery (Wasps, capt),
Shaw (Wasps),
Borthwick (Bath),
Haskell (Wasps),
Lipman (Bath),
Easter (Harlequins).


Replacements: Mears (Bath), Stevens (Bath), Kay (Leicester), Croft (Leicester), Hodgson (London Irish), Cipriani (Wasps), Tait (Newcastle)

 

[SaintsFan_Webby]

England team announced:

Balshaw (Gloucester); Sackey (Wasps), Noon (Newcastle), Flood (Newcastle), Vainikolo (Gloucester); Wilkinson (Newcastle), Wigglesworth (Sale); Sheridan (Sale Sharks), Regan (Bristol), Vickery (Wasps, capt), Shaw (Wasps), Borthwick (Bath), Haskell (Wasps), Lipman (Bath), Easter (Harlequins).

Replacements: Mears (Bath), Stevens (Bath), Kay (Leicester), Croft (Leicester), Hodgson (London Irish), Cipriani (Wasps), Tait (Newcastle).


Positives - Wigglesworth in for Gomersall. Sheridan returns.

Negatives - Balshaw, Vickery, Balshaw, Regan, Balshaw, still not enough new players being given a chance, Balshaw.

 

[Stillknox]

Actually, this is gonna be audacity versus conservatism... if France wins this one, maybe this is gonna be the trigger for a real change in England ?

 

[Charles]

I just can't wait ! It would be great if the 8 9 10 perform and show that they are International level.