France have named five players who were involved in the 2011 World Cup final against New Zealand in their starting XV against England at Twickenham in a largely reserve selection.
The scrum-half Morgan Parra and the prop Nicolas Mas are the two survivors from the starting team in Auckland four years ago, although Parra started at outside-half that evening, while the fly-half François Trinh-Duc, the hooker Dimitri Szarzewski, who captains the side, and the flanker Fulgence Ouedraogo were on the bench.
Mas is one of four players in Saturday’s side who started the Six Nations match at Twickenham last March which England won 55-35, along with the full-back Scott Spedding, prop Vincent Debaty and lock Yoann Maestri.
The France head coach, Philippe Saint-André, who is in his final 10 weeks in charge before handing over to Guy Novès, delayed naming his side until 27 hours before kick-off, breaking a rule which said he had to make the announcement by Wednesday evening. The French Rugby Federation faces being fined, while England had little time to prepare on an individual basis.
“I planned it,” Saint-André said. “The players have known the team for a few days. We are not used to coming to England in August but the traffic and weather were as bad as normal and the pitch will be as well. Both sets of players will be rusty but it will be physical and the spirit in our group is good.”
France have not won at Twickenham since the World Cup warm-up match against England eight years ago and after an arduous training camp in the Pyrenees, they are treating the two matches against England this month – the Paris return is on 22 August – as more than warm-ups.
“We have worked well in training but the moment of truth will be on the pitch,” said Parra, who missed the Six Nations match against England because of injury. “We have to deliver at Twickenham and the Stade de France and we have to give everything.”
Ouedraogo, the Montpellier captain, said the outcome of the two matches would not decide anything. France’s victory at Twickenham and another a week later in Marseille in 2007 were followed by defeat by England in the World Cup semi-final in Paris. Then in 2011 they won two warm-up matches against Ireland only to lose twice in the pool stage, with Tonga among their conquerors.
“You have to be sensible about the conclusions you arrive at from this match,” he said. “Assessing pre-season friendlies is always complicated. We beat England twice in 2007 and then lost the opening match of the World Cup to Argentina in Paris.
“Losing a warm-up game can add pressure and make you react to fear. There are no sure things to take from these matches, only aspects which emerge that will give us an illustration of where we are and what we have to work harder on.”
France team to face England
S Spedding (Clermont Auvergne); S Guitoune (Bordeaux), R Lamerat (Castres), A Dumoulin (Racing Metro), B Dulin (Racing Metro); F Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), M Parra (Clermont Auvergne); V Debaty (Clermont Auvergne), D Szarzewski (Racing Metro, capt), N Mas (Montpellier), A Flanquart (Stade Français), Y Maestri (Toulouse), Y Nyanga (Racing Metro), F Ouedraogo (Montpellier), L Picamoles (Toulouse). Replacements G Guirado (Toulon), X Chiocci (Toulon), Uini Atonio (La Rochelle), S Vahaamahina (Clermont Auvergne), L Goujon (Bordeaux), R Kockott (Castres), R Talès (Racing 92), G Fickou (Toulouse).
