England plan to ruin France’s Grand Slam party by hitting them with such ferociousness it strips them of their belief.
Eddie Jones made no secret of his team’s intentions despite a similar threat before their last visit to Paris backfiring spectacularly.
“France are a good team,” said the Australian. “But like any team if you can get stuck into them physically, take away their strengths, you can cause them problems.
“For them playing for the Grand Slam becomes something in their head and the only way we can make that live in their head a bit more is to play with such intensity and ferociousness that we put them on the back foot.
“We want to take it to them. We’ve got a pretty good track record against them and a pretty good idea how to play against them.”
Two years ago Jones threatened all manner of “brutality” and watched France romp to a 24-0 lead inside an hour en route to victory.
This time the pressure on them is altogether greater as they are in sight of their first title and unbeaten campaign since 2010.
Jones has changed England’s training plan in an effort to freshen up his battered squad and will now head to Paris tomorrow.
Despite losing Tom Curry and, potentially, Kyle Sinckler he vowed: “We will get ourselves right so we are ready to rip into France.”
Should the French lose Ireland can win the title and captain Johnny Sexton said: “I think England have a great chance.
“England are England, one of the most dominant teams in world rugby. They can do a lot of damage.”
