2025 Six Nations- England v France

2025 Six Nations

England v France

Saturday 8 February – 17:00

Twickenham, London

England will be glad to be back in front of their home faithful, but will know that a repeat of the performance that saw them lose against Ireland last week will be costly against the red-hot French. France meanwhile cruised to a 47-0 win against an out of sorts Wales and will know that a significant step up in opposition awaits.

To Win Match England 9/5 | Draw 25/1 | France 1/2

Steve Borthwick’s men may not have bagged a famous win over Ireland at the Aviva, but there were some positives takeaways from their opening-round performance.

A fast start saw the English take a 5-10 lead into the half-time break with winger Cadan Murley dotting down on debut while Marcus Smith added the extras from the tee and kicked a penalty. Smith didn’t have it all his own way in the first stanza though after being shown a yellow card for a cynical offside offence.

A positive first half showing for Bothwick’s men then, but a few old issues would return in the second stanza with the English unable to kick on from a good opening forty. They allowed Ireland to launch a comeback with Bundee Aki’s barnstorming try setting things up for the hosts. Further tries from Tadgh Beirne and Dan Sheehan put Ireland into a commanding lead. While Borthwick’s men were unable to overturn the score, they did manage to claim a losing bonus point with late tries for Tommy Freeman and Tom Curry seeing the fixture end 27-22.

So where to go for this English outfit now? Well again, they showed glimmers, as was the case in 2024, but they were unable to get over the line. Stacking their back row with fetchers was a smart move against the Irish and it may reap dividends again against the French.

I reckon Borthwick will keep a very similar pack with the only alteration possibly being veteran hooker Jamie George coming back into the fold after recovering from a hamstring injury. There’s a lot of talk of changes to the backline, however, with the early indications being that Fin Smith will line up at fly-half with Marcus Smith shifting to fullback. While an interesting concept, one only has to take a look at the All Blacks’ attempts to operate with dual play markers over the last few years; it’s come off at times, but it’s also cost them. The only change for the English will come on the wing with try-scoring debutant Cadan Murray ruled out with a foot injury.

Away from the hosts now and over to their visitors who registered a comfortable 43-0 win over the Welsh. While the Dragons are on a massive decline, this was still a statement win from the French who honestly didn’t even need to get out of second gear. Their forward pack was absolutely outstanding against the Welsh, while Antoine Dupont seems to have become an even more complete rugby player post his SVNS sabbatical.

One issue for the French is Romain Ntamack. Having missed a heap of rugby last year and the season prior due to serious injuries, the French pivot lost his head against the Dragons coping a ban for a late shoulder on Ben Thomas. The Toulouse pivot is now set to miss most of the Six Nations campaign with his best chance of making an early return being France’s fourth-round clash with Ireland but he needs to jump through a lot of hoops for that to occur including a World Rugby safety training session as well as getting his club game next week listed as one of the games that will be considered as a ban week. Matthieu Jalibert is likely to take over from Ntamack in the fly-half role this weekend.

While the loss of Ntamack is a blow, it’s somewhat softened by the return of try-scoring sensation Damien Penaud, who is back after nursing a muscle injury may well see himself thrown right back into the starting line-up for ‘Le Crunch’.

Verdict: France (-6.5) 20/21

The last time these two sides met at Twickenham France ran riot winning the fixture 53-10. While I’m not expecting as big a scoreline here, I do expect the visitors to clear a modest handicap.