ENGLAND COACH MARTIN JOHNSON is once again forced to do without captain Lewis Moody as he readies his side for Saturday’s make-or-break game against France at Twickenham.
The 32-year-old flanker had been expected to make a return this weekend after a knee injury had ruled him out of England’s opening games against Wales and Italy.
As part of his preparations, he played 23 minutes for club side Bath in their Aviva Premiership game against Northampton last weekend.
However, Moody suffered a recurrence of the same knee injury while training with the national side earlier this week, leaving Johnson with no option but to omit him from the matchday 22.
It’s not all bad news for England however. Loosehead prop Andrew Sheridan has recovered from a back complaint, and the Sale man slots in in place of Alex Corbisiero who drops to the bench.
Les Bleus
As reported here on Tuesday, French boss Marc Lièvremont has rung the changes in his side ahead of Saturday’s game.
Morgan Parra who was almost faultless against Ireland at the Aviva Stadium last time out, drops to the bench along with Clement Poitrenaud, Damien Traille and Julien Bonnaire. Dimitri Yachvili will start at out half in place of Parra.
There are also recalls for Sebastien Chabal, Vincent Clerc and Yannick Jauzion, while Maxime Medard switches from wing to full-back to replace Poitrenaud.
England: Ben Foden; Chris Ashton, Mike Tindall (captain), Shontayne Hape (Bath Rugby), Mark Cueto; Toby Flood, Ben Youngs; Andrew Sheridan, Dylan Hartley, Dan Cole, Louis Deacon, Tom Palmer, Tom Wood, James Haskell, Nick Easter.
Replacements: S Thompson, A Corbisiero, S Shaw, H Fourie , D Care, J Wilkinson, M Banahan.
France:Maxime Medard; Yoann Huget, Aurelien Rougerie, Yannick Jauzion, Vincent Clerc; Francois Trinh-Duc, Dimitri Yachvili; Thomas Domingo, William Servat, Nicolas Mas, Julien Pierre, Lionel Nallet, Thierry Dusautoir (captain), Sebastien Chabal, Imanol Harinordoquy.
Replacements: Clement Poitrenaud, Guilhem Guirado, Sylvain Marconnet, Jerome Thion, Morgan Parra, Julien Bonnaire, Damien Traille.
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