Jones cooks up England recipe to try and ruin France’s grand slam party

One glance at the team sheets tells you everything about the contrast between France and England ahead of the final round of the 2022 Six Nations championship. Les Bleus’ selection these days is as reassuringly consistent as the à la carte menu at a Michelin-starred restaurant. England, on the other hand, resemble a microwaved stew made up of whatever leftovers the head chef can still find in the fridge.

Such is life when one team is going for a grand slam and the other is scrambling to avoid a bottom-half finish for a second consecutive year. A 14-man England also put so much effort into last Saturday’s game against Ireland that the odd tweak was inevitable. Few, though, predicted as many as five personnel changes, including a rethink at full-back and yet another U-turn at scrum-half.

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Into the starting lineup, accordingly, come George Furbank, Ben Youngs, Will Stuart, Nick Isiekwe and Sam Underhill with Freddie Steward redeployed on the right wing. Kyle Sinckler will also be on the bench, having barely trained since his premature departure against Ireland, while Joe Launchbury, expected by most to return to the second row, is nowhere to be seen.

The rationale, as ever with Eddie Jones, is based on how the opposition are likely to play. With plenty of French kicking likely there is some logic in moving the 6ft 5in tall Steward to the wing while Youngs’s superior box-kicking ability has earned him a starting recall ahead of Harry Randall. Isiekwe will be invited to put pressure on the French lineout while England are lucky to have a flanker of Underhill’s quality to replace the injured Tom Curry, whose badly torn hamstring