By England Fan
February 2 2017

England start their defense of the Six Nations Grand Slam, the Triple Crown and the Calcutta Cup this weekend.  Apart from attempting to do the 'back-to-back'  Grand slam, they will also be aiming for a new England record of 15 successive test victories.  No doubt France will be anxious to put a spoke in the chariot's wheel and hopefully se them on their way towards a first title since 2010. France have won only two of their last eight test matches, in Argentina in June and against Samoa in Toulouse in November  

RBS Six Nations 2017

England v France

  Twickenham, Saturday 4 February , kick-off 4.50pm

England this time last year had nothing to lose when they set out on their Six Nations 2016 campaign, they  were really in a wilderness.  However, along came Eddie Jones and his management team and took basically the same players who had played in the RWC2015 and transformed them, instilled confidence and a winning mentality. They embarked on such a winning streak that it will/has gone down in the history books.

This year will be different in as much as the demons that the team and management will have to face are........... the huge expectation to WIN and the pressure that goes with this expectation.  As well as the vibes from the Twickenham crowd.

The England winning bubble will burst at some point, it is just a question of when. Personally, I would love them to keep winning all of the time and be invincible but the realist in me thinks..... in a way it might be good for them to lose a game sooner rather than later.   I know some will think I am mad to think this way but you only learn from your mistakes and England I feel still have a great deal to learn.  Only by feeling the pain of loss do you really learn.   

However, having said all that England have not lost at Twickenham in the RBS 6 Nations since Wales were the visitors in round 3, 2012, a run off eleven successive victories, another win would equal their best ever home sequence in the history of the Championship set between 1911-1921. 

So let's hope they win eh!    And here is Eddie's view on the match to come....

:

England: Mike Brown; Jonny May, Jonathan Joseph, Owen Farrell, Elliot Daly; George Ford, Ben Youngs; Joe Marler, Dylan Hartley (captain), Dan Cole; Joe Launchbury; Courtney Lawes; Maro Itoje, Tom Wood, Nathan Hughes.

Replacements: Jamie George, Matt Mullan, Kyle Sinckler, Teimana Harrison, James Haskell, Danny Care, Ben Te'o, Jack Nowell.

France: 15-Scott Spedding, 14-Noa Nakaitaci, 13-Remi Lamerat, 12-Gael Fickou, 11-Virimi Vakatawa, 10-Camille Lopez, 9-Baptiste Serin, 8-Louis Picamoles, 7-Kevin Gourdon, 6-Damien Chouly, 5-Yoann Maestri, 4-Sebastien Vahaamahina, 3-Uini Atonio, 2-Guilhem Guirado (captain), 1-Cyril Baille.

Replacements: 16-Clement Maynadier, 17-Rabah Slimani, 18-Xavier Chiocci, 19-Arthur Iturria, 20-Loann Goujon, 21-Maxime Machenaud, 22-Jean Marc Doussain, 23-Yoann Huget (Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Pritha Sarkar)

Referee: Angus Gardner (ARU, 2nd RBS 6 Nations game) 

Assistants: Glen Jackson (NZRU), Marius van der Westhuizen (SARU) 

TMO: Peter Fitzgibbon (IRFU)