England vs France

Steve Borthwick has rolled the dice by naming Fin Smith at fly-half for his first Test start after seven appearances off the bench, with Marcus Smith moving to full-back.

Fin Smith's Northampton teammate Ollie Sleightholme and Saracens' number eight Tom Willis are the other changes to the starting XV. 

Sleightholme replaces the injured Cadan Murley, while Ben Curry drops to the bench to accommodate Willis - last week's starting number eight Ben Earl moves to seven.

Les Bleus XV, meanwhile, make just two alterations to their starting XV including the enforced change for Fabien Galthié at number 10 - a three-match ban for Romain Ntamack means a start for Matthieu Jalibert.

Damian Penaud is back after a toe injury and starts on the right wing  in place of Théo Attissogbé who drops out of the squad completely.

 

England vs France Prediction

Steve Borthwick’s side are the big underdogs (best price 11/5 on AK Bets) on Saturday evening as France (1/2) eye a fourth successive Six Nations victory over England.

Last year, Thomas Ramos kicked a late penalty from the halfway line as France edged England 33-31 to secure a 2nd place finish in the 2024 Six Nations.

Les Bleus return to the scene of their crushing 53-10 win two years ago, England’s heaviest ever home defeat featuring braces for Thibaud Flament, Charles Ollivon and Damian Penaud.

That result was an outlier in a string of narrow home defeats more recently for Borthwick's side against tier 1 opposition - three Autumn Series defeats against New Zealand, Australia and South Africa came by two, five and nine points respectively.

The most likely result might be a narrow win for France (-6.5 pts on the handicap line) but if you fancy the Red Rose to pull of a shock why not take 50/1 odds for an England win as a new customer on Parimatch? Click on the offer below for all the details!

England vs France Lineups

England Team to Play France

M Smith; Freeman, Lawrence, Slade, Sleightholme; F Smith, Mitchell; Genge, Cowan-Dickie, Stuart, Itoje (c), Martin, T Curry, Earl, Willis

Replacements: George, Baxter, Heyes, Chessum, Cunningham-South, B Curry, Randall, Daly

France Team to Play England 

Ramos; Penaud, Barassi, Moefana, Bielle-Biarrey; Jalibert, Dupont (capt); Gros, Mauvaka, Atonio, Roumat, Meafou, Cros, Boudehent, Alldritt.

Replacements: Marchand, Baille, Colombe, Auradou, Guillard, Jegou, Le Garrec, Gailleton.

England vs France Rugby Betting Tips

Our betting tip for the match is Ollie Sleightholme to score anytime (best price 11/5 on bet365).

The prolific Northampton Saints winger already has four international tries from five caps despite starting only two of those matches.

In the Autumn Series, he scored four times in three matches against Australia, South Africa and Japan, averaging a try every 51.5 minutes.

He topped the Premiership try scoring charts last season with 14, four more than both Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Tom Roebuck.

Sleightholme has five tries from eight Premiership appearances this season across just 443 minutes of action (averaging a try every 88.6 minutes).