France head coach Fabien Galthie has two of the Six Nations ' three joint-top try-scorers among his XV after recalling star winger Damian Penaud for Saturday's clash against England.
Gabin Villiere—who, along with Ireland 's James Lowe, also has three tries thus far—starts on the other wing as Galthie makes just one change to his line-up for their final match. France will host England for the first time in more than two years and will complete the Grand Slam if they win the tournament's send-off fixture.
France fought tooth and nail to emerge as 13-9 victors over Wales last Friday and are now just 80 minutes from celebrating their biggest achievement of the past decade. England have won the last two times these teams have met, but Les Bleus look to have accelerated their development in the past six months or so.
Clermont winger Penaud and Romain Taofifenua each missed the trip to Cardiff due to Covid-19 but are both back in the squad, with the former starting in place of the dropped Yoram Moefana. The starting XV is otherwise unchanged as the hosts have opted for consistency in their last test.
A familiar pack features the familiar front row of hooker Julien Marchand—Player of the Match against Wales—flanked by prop pair Uini Atonio and Cyril Baille. Cameron Woki and Paul Willemse maintain their devastating lock partnership, while Francois Cros keep his place in the back row alongside Anthony Jelonch and No.8 Gregory Alldritt.
Montpellier's Mohamed Haouas is among those to keep their place on the French bench. The tighthead prop made his first appearance of the tournament in Cardiff, having been handed an 18-month suspended jail sentence and fined £13,000 in February for his role in a string of tobacco vendor burglaries in 2014.
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France24 reported the 27-year-old was convicted as part of an operation to steal "cigarettes, lottery scratch cards and tax stamps from outlets in and around Montpellier" worth 'tens of thousands of euros'. Haouas was accused of handling a stolen car at the time and admitted to transporting cigarettes at the time of the offence, with his DNA found on a headlamp at one crime scene.
Les Bleus looked far from their most confident en route to victory at the Principality Stadium last time out, giving England some idea of how to combat their threat. Flanker Jelonch came up with the only try in Cardiff after just nine minutes, with the two teams seeing out a scoreless last 33 minuets.
The only team still in with a chance of beating France to the Six Nations crown is Ireland, who sit two points below Galthie's men in second with one round of fixtures to play. Andy Farrell's side beat 14-man England 32-15 at Twickenham on Saturday to preserve their title hopes, though they need to beat Scotland at home to have a chance of leapfrogging the French.
Eddie Jones said last weekend that he expects a "good win" in Paris, where he won his first game as England chief in 2016 but has since slumped to successive defeats. Both of those trips (in 2018 and 2020) were decided by margins of seven points or fewer, however, giving England cause for hope.
Bath lock Charlie Ewels won't be available for the visit to France after he was served a three-game ban following his red card after just 82 seconds in the defeat to Ireland. Jones will also be without hamstrung duo Tom Curry and Manu Tuilagi, though Joe Launchbury and Sam Underhill are back in contention.
England are expected to name their squad for the fifth-round fixture at 5.30pm GMT on Thursday evening. Defeat in Paris could consign Jones' side to a second straight fifth-place finish in the Six Nations if other results go against them, with Wales likely to climb from fifth as they host point-less Italy.
France team vs. England
(Backs) Melvyn Jaminet; Damian Penaud, Gael Fickou, Jonathan Danty, Gabin Villiere; Romain Ntamack, Antoine Dupont (capt); (Forwards) Cyril Baille, Julien Marchand, Uini Atonio; Cameron Woki, Paul Willemse; Francois Cros, Anthony Jelonch, Gregory Alldritt
Reps: Peato Mauvaka, Jean-Baptiste Gros, Mohamed Haouas, Romain Taofifenua, Thibaud Flament, Dylan Cretin, Maxime Lucu, Thomas Ramos
