? 'England look very sure of themselves,' says France coach
? Li�vremont may change starting line-up for Twickenham
France have named an unchanged squad for next week's potential Six Nations decider against England at Twickenham, but their coach, Marc Li�vremont, said he was considering tweaking his starting line-up after Sunday's narrow victory over Ireland in Dublin.
France were outscored by three tries to one and, for the second successive weekend, the defending champions were defensively vulnerable around the fringes with Li�vremont admitting they were lagging behind England.
"We have retained the same 23 who were in Dublin, but it is not impossible to make changes to the starting line-up," said Li�vremont, who revealed that the second-row, Julien Pierre, and the back-rower, Julien Bonnaire, were far from automatic selections. "I am already feeling something of a headache because England are looking very sure of themselves."
If Bonnaire were dropped, he would make way for the former Sale No8, S�bastien Chabal, whose last international appearance at Twickenham two years ago did not mark his finest hour in a France jersey. "I believe the winner of this match will take the championship," said Chabal. "We watched England's victory over Italy, and while they played great rugby and moved the ball, their opponents did not play well. We have to be strong at forward because when they go backwards, it will be more difficult for them to move the ball around the pitch."
France's try against Ireland was scored by Maxime M�dard, his second of the tournament, and the wing will be up against the free-scoring Chris Ashton next week. The England squad returned to camp on Monday night with Ashton expecting another conversation with his team manager, Martin Johnson, about his two exuberant dives over the line against Italy.
Johnson had already warned Ashton to touch the ball down before celebrating after the wing's opening try in Cardiff the previous week. "I had no intention of doing the dive again, but I thought there had been a lot of talk about it so I might as well go for it," said the Northampton wing. "I just hope that Martin Johnson does not carry out his threat of dropping me.
"I have scored a few tries this month, but I do not dwell on that. What mattered on Saturday was that it was a great team performance. I was just on the end of a few movements. I do not know if it is because of my rugby league background but I am desperate to score tries. I find myself not thinking, just running across the pitch and doing anything to get a try. As long as I get on the end of the try I am not bothered. The main thing is that there is a lot for us to take into the game against France. Our defence stood up and we are going well at the minute: we are all bouncing off each other and let's hope that continues."
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/feb/14/six-nations-2011-england-france
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