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France name side for England clash
By Ben Spratt
Francois Trinh-Duc will start at fly-half against England as France make just one change to their side for Saturday's Six Nations clash following victory last time out against Italy.
Head coach Jacques Brunel had shuffled the pack after his side began their campaign with consecutive defeats, and his decision paid dividends as Mathieu Bastareaud - returning from suspension - starred in a 34-17 defeat of Italy.
Brunel has responded by largely showing faith in the players involved in that win, with only experienced fly-half Lionel Beauxis dropping out of the starting XV.
Toulon's Trinh-Duc, on the bench against Italy, is the man entrusted with taking on England, who are reeling after Scotland ended their Grand Slam bid at Murrayfield.
France XV: Hugo Bonneval, Benjamin Fall, Mathieu Bastareaud, Geoffrey Doumayrou, Remy Grosso, Francois Trinh-Duc, Maxime Machenaud; Jefferson Poirot, Guilhem Guirado (captain), Rabah Slimani, Paul Gabrillagues, Sebastien Vahaamahina, Wenceslas Lauret, Yacouba Camara, Marco Tauleigne.
Substitutes: Adrien Pelissie, Dany Priso, Cedate Gomes Sa, Romain Taofifenua, Kelian Galletier, Baptiste Couilloud, Lionel Beauxis, Gael Fickou.
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Smith is playing a different game with the rest of the backs struggling to understand. That's the problem with so called playmakers, if nobody gets what they're doing then it often just leads to a turnover. It gets worse when Borthwick changes one of them, which is why they don't score points at the end. Sometimes having a brilliant playmaker can be problematic if a team cannot be built around them. Once again Borthwick seems lacking in either coaching or selection. I can't help but think it's the latter coupled with pressure to select the big name players.
Lastly, his forward replacements are poor and exposed either lack of depth or selection pressure. Cole hemorrhages scrum penalties whenever he comes on, opponents take advantage of the England scrum and close out the game. Is that the best England can offer?
Go to commentsWhich Australian coaches would be acceptable to coach the All Blacks ?
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