England have vowed not to put France’s superstar scrumhalf Antoine Dupont on a pedestal as Steve Borthwick seeks to end his side’s miserable run of form against Les Bleus on Saturday.
Borthwick is likely to be without Cadan Murley for the match after he picked up a foot injury in the 27-22 defeat by Ireland last weekend but, while Dupont and Co represent a daunting challenge, Tommy Freeman has insisted that France are “only human”.
Dupont was at the forefront of France’s ominous opening‑round victory against Wales, setting up three tries in his 50 minutes on the pitch. England, meanwhile, began their Six Nations campaign with a defeat in Dublin after another second-half capitulation last Saturday.
Murley endured a mixed day on debut, scoring the opening try before twice attempting to carry the ball out from England’s in-goal area and putting his side under pressure in the process.
He did not take part in England’s training session on Monday and is said to be struggling for the France game.
In his likely absence, Ollie Sleightholme, Tom Roebuck and Elliot Daly could all come into the side while Freddie Steward could also shift to the wing.
“You can’t underestimate how good a player [Dupont] is, but he’s human, he’s like everyone else, you take his legs and he goes down,” Freeman said.
Are Ireland Six Nations favourites?
“It’s all about picking things up nice and early with him, putting him under pressure, and I’m sure like any other player when you put pressure on them they start to leak a few opportunities.
“At the end of the day everyone is human, it’s rugby. They’ll have a game plan, we’ll have a game plan and we’ll back ours to the moon and back.”
Ollie Chessum, who came off the bench against Ireland, is pushing for a start against France. He made his comeback from a long-term knee injury in Leicester’s 80-12 defeat by Toulouse last month – another match in which Dupont starred – and was part of the England side that crashed to a 53-10 defeat the last time France visited Twickenham.
Asked how to stop Dupont, Chessum said: “I don’t know, if I had the answers then I’d be one of the best paid coaches in the world. I suppose we’ve just got to treat it for what he is.
“He’s an excellent player, but we’ve got excellent players in our team as well. We’ll bring our threats, I’m sure he’ll bring what he brings and we’ll see what happens on the weekend. We are playing France, not Toulouse this weekend – it is a different team.”
Freeman said the review into England’s seventh defeat in nine games was measured but he insisted the squad members held one another to account as Borthwick now plots a first win against France in four years.
Borthwick will be tempted to shift Marcus Smith to fullback and hand a first start to Fin Smith given France’s propensity to kick long.
“I play with Fin week in, week out,” Freeman said. “To play with Fin, I know his cues a little bit more, but I’ve been playing with Marcus a lot more now.
“There are different elements to different games, but Marcus runs a lot more and can create something out of nothing for you and give you the ball more in space.
“They are different players and will bring different attributes of the game alive, and it’s exciting to play with both of them. With Marcus at full‑back, when he gets the ball in a bit more space he’s a bit more dangerous as well. I think it works nicely.”
Former captain Jamie George is likely to return for the game against France, after being fast‑tracked back into the squad.
The 34-year-old missed England’s training camp in Girona in the build-up to their Dublin defeat with a hamstring injury and was expected to miss the first two matches.
He was summoned back into camp on Sunday night, however, and after taking part in Monday’s session he is expected to feature in Saturday’s matchday squad. – Guardian
