England have bulked up their scrum to meet a beefy French pack at Twickenham on Sunday. The 35-year-old Simon Shaw makes his first England start under Martin Johnson.
The second-row, who weights in at close on 20 stone and stands at 6ft 8in, is one of three changes from the team that lost in Dublin a fortnight ago. Shaw replaces Nick Kennedy, one of England's better forwards in the Six Nations so far, and is paired alongside the captain, Steve Borthwick.
Johnson clearly hopes to compensate for the loss of the London Irish lock's line-out skills, selecting 6ft 6in Tom Croft instead of 6ft 3in James Haskell in the back row. But does he have to?
There is another option, but it is clearly one that would mean a fairly hefty U-turn for the England manager: sacking his captain.
Yesterday, when Johnson released 13 players to play for their clubs this weekend, he answered several questions. It confirmed that England were not going to gamble on the return of Danny Cipriani, so with the news that Shane Geraghty had damaged a bone in his hand it became obvious that the two fly-halves selected to play Ireland a fortnight ago – Toby Flood and Andy Goode – would keep their places. Likewise the No9s, Harry Ellis and Danny Care, once Johnson had decided that he did not need the pace or adventure of Ben Foden and that no one was to be sacked for ill-discipline.
But the main fascination was the role allotted to Shaw, the Wasps second-row who was last seen in England colours against South Africa in the autumn when he came on as a replacement. Before yesterday he hadn't even made the bench in this Six Nations, despite being ever-present in the championship last year.
If Shaw was to get a starting berth and England his extra power in the scrum – something that would have been needed on Sunday even before Marc Lièvremont beefed up the French pack – then Kennedy always looked the likely victim. Likely, but some would argue possibly not the right victim.
He has, after all, attracted quite a lot of praise in this year's tournament. He was the main, possibly the only, English line-out presence against Wales, did well enough against Paul O'Connell in Dublin, and was generally seen as growing into the job. The match at Croke Park a fortnight ago brought, after all, only his fifth cap.
Some said that Borthwick and Kennedy were too similar, but Kennedy's supporters could answer that one by pointing to the Cardiff statistics showing that in the line-out it was the captain, with 46 caps, who was the less productive.
Then there have been obvious questions being asked about the captain's ability to crack the whip and keep discipline in the ranks.
He's been defending himself this week in his most recent Powerade blog, commenting: "There has inevitably been a lot of criticism flying around, but personally, I feel good about my own game and with the help of the senior players I believe I am captaining the side well. It continues to be a fantastic honour. We need to all help each other to make better decisions. We have collective responsibility as a team for our discipline on the field."
Fair enough, but hardly the most dynamic stuff. And it could be said that Borthwick's general niceness sometimes lets him down. When Martin Johnson approached referees more often than not they tended to listen, rather than brushing away the captain and saying: "Not now, Steve," or: "This is not the time."
However, asking the manager to offer up his captain's head was probably always too much to ask, so Johnson has to hope that Kennedy's line-out skills are more than matched by the extra Shaw will offer in the scrum.
Otherwise the only other change was dictated by the calf injury to Paul Sackey, who is replaced by the Harlequins winger Ugo Monye. It is an obvious replacement of like for like, but will puzzle fans of Mathew Tait who must wonder why the Sale back always seems to be overlooked in the starting line-up despite being ever-present on the bench.
Some still remember Tait from the World Cup final in Paris. This week he will have Haskell and Kennedy for company.
Five hours before the Johnson XV was announced, Lièvremont named a France side that contained four changes, but surprisingly little fiddling by the coach. The only alteration behind the scrum is the return of François Trinh-Duc for Benoît Baby, the experimental fly-half who failed to make the distance against Wales and has been nursing an ankle injury ever since. The 18-plus stone of Mathieu Bastareaud keeps his place even though Florian Fritz has served his time for punching.
The pack is beefed up – Lionel Faure, the Sale loose-head prop replacing Fabien Barcella, while 31-year-old Jérôme Thion adds more size to the second row, playing his first Test for almost a year. However the other two "veterans" called up – Julien Bonnaire and Damien Traille – are on the bench, meaning only three different faces in the starting XV as Sébastien Chabal moves from lock to the back row where he started his international career.
There he replaces Fulgence Ouedraogo at No7, rather than starting in his favoured No8 position. Considering that Sale and France have both been picking Chabal as a regular second-row, it must be something of a gamble. This is the first time Lièvremont has started Chabal in the back row, but yesterday the coach seemed confident enough.
England to team to play France at Twickenham on Sunday 15 March
Replacements: D Hartley (Northampton), J White (Leicester), J Haskell (Wasps), N Kennedy (London Irish), D Care (Harlequins), A Goode (Brive), M Tait (Sale Sharks).
