George not fazed by French beef
ENGLAND have warned the French heavyweights that size will be irrelevant when ‘Le Crunch’ time comes on Sunday.
Les Bleus are likely to put out a gargantuan pack averaging 19st per man, but England hooker Jamie George has promised that his side will dominate the scrum regardless.
“We’re not afraid of the confrontation that’s going to come at scrum time,” said George.
“We were pretty good in Dublin but we know we can take it to a different place. You saw that in the autumn and hopefully we’ll see it on Sunday as well.
“Weight is an advantage but there are ways around it and technique is a big part of that.”
France produced an infuriating performance against Wales in round one, squandering a 16-0 interval lead to crash to defeat.
England, who won their opener 32-20 against Ireland, are programming themselves to face the good from Les Bleus rather than the bad and the downright ugly.
“We’re expecting for 80 minutes what they brought for the first 40 minutes,” said George.
“We relish it when it gets tough. We’re able to keep getting off the floor and off the line and hitting people. It’s something we pride ourselves on.”
Leicester’s Dan Cole is set to return for England from the bench following an 11-month absence.
Prop Cole, who was dropped after winning his 82nd cap against Ireland last season, was retained in a 25-man squad last night in place of Harry Williams, with Ben Moon also replacing Ellis Genge.
Bath wing Joe Cokanasiga is fit again and included, but there is no place for Worcester centre Ben Te’o.
Manu Tuilagi is likely to stay at inside centre, while full-back Mike Brown misses out having been a travelling reserve in Dublin.