We have a France v England prediction for you plus a breakdown of the betting odds, team news and matchups ahead of the third round of Six Nations fixtures.
How To Watch France v England
When is France v England
8..00 pm, Saturday, March 16th
TV Channel
ITV 1, RTÉ 2
Live Stream
Those in Ireland can stream the game on the RTÉ Player.
Those in the UK can stream France v Scotland on ITVX.
Who are the officiating team?
Referee: Angus Gardner (RA)
Assistant Referees: Nika Amashukeli (GRU), Damian Schneider (UAR)
TMO: Ben Whitehouse (WRU)
Where is France v England
Groupama Stadium, Lyon
France v England Odds
France v England Betting Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
Team | Odds | Chance |
France | 4/9 | 69.2% |
England | 2/1 | 33.3% |
Draw | 20/1 | 4.8% |
France are 4/9 favourites to beat England in the final round of this year’s Six Nations.
England are 2/1 underdogs to get a win over the French away from home.
The draw is priced up at 20/1.
Handicap Betting
France: -7 @ Evens
England +7 @ Evens
Handicap Draw: -7@ Evens
Click Below For Our LIVE France v England Odds
Team News
France Team News
15 Leo Barre, 14 Damian Penaud, 13 Gaël Fickou, 12 Nicolas Depoortere, 11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 10 Thomas Ramos, 9 Nolann Le Garrec, 8 Gregory Alldritt (c), 7 Charles Ollivon, 6 François Cros, 5 Emmanuel Meafou, 4 Thibaud Flament, 3 Uini Atonio, 2 Julien Marchand, 1 Cyril Baille
Replacements
16 Peato Mauvaka, 17 Sebastien Taofifenua, 18 Georges-Henri Colombe, 19 Romain Taofifenua, 20 Alexandre Roumat, 21 Paul Boudehent, 22 Maxime Lucu, 23 Yoram Moefana
England Team News
15 George Furbank, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Ollie Lawrence, 11 Elliot Daly, 10 George Ford, 9 Alex Mitchell, 8 Ben Earl, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Ollie Chessum, 5 George Martin, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Jamie George (c), 1 Ellis Genge
Replacements
16 Theo Dan, 17 Joe Marler, 18 Will Stuart, 19 Ethan Roots, 20 Alex Dombrandt, 21 Danny Care, 22 Marcus Smith, 23 Manu Tuilagi
France v England Weather Forecast
Perfect dry conditions for rugby are expected for the game Saturday Night.
Temperature
The temperature is predicted to be between 11 and 12°C throughout the game.
Wind
On Saturday there is expected to be a light breeze of 5-6 km/h.
Rain
On Saturday there is expected to be 0 mm of rainfall during the game.
France v England Preview
France’s Form
France entered the RWC following a strong third-place finish in the 2023 Six Nations. However, they were disappointingly dumped out of the tournament at the Pool Stage coming third after defeats from Ireland and South Africa.
France opened their Six Nations title success with a disappointing 17-38 defeat against Ireland which ended any Grand Slam aspirations at the first hurdle. That defeat was followed by a narrow 16-20 win against Scotland in Murrayfield following a late second-half surge to save their blushes for a second successive week.
France followed up those performances with a 13-13 draw against Italy at home where they were very fortunate to avoid defeat. However, they finally came alive in the Championship last weekend with a 24-45 win against Wales.
England’s Form
England opened their RWC campaign with a 27-10 victory against Argentina and while they were underwhelming at times, they quietly went about their business topping Pool D before defeating Fiji 30-24 in the Quarter-Final. They narrowly lost in the Semi-Final 15-16 to South Africa before beating Argentina again this time in the Bronze Final 23-26.
England overcame an Italian scare in their opening Six Nations fixture winning in Italy to a 24-27 scoreline albeit in an unremarkable fashion they got their win. That victory was followed by another unremarkable 16-14 victory against Wales.
They were handed their first defeat of the Six Nations losing 30-21 to Scotland in the Calcutta Cup to end their faint Grand Slam hopes. However, last weekend they put in their strongest performance in a long time to defeat Ireland 23-22 at Twickenham.
France Attack v England Defence
French Rugby is known for its free-flowing game when at its best and plenty were expecting them to bounce back following their RWC exit at the end of last year. However, they’ve been largely disappointing in the Championship so far with their 95-point total less than Scotland (102) and Ireland (127) from the first 4 games.
Their try total is also less than Ireland (17), and Scotland (11) and is level with bottom of the Championship side Wales (10).
England have the second-best-performing defence of the Championship with 90 points conceded from their 4 matches. Albeit they remain within 15 points of Scotland, France and Italy. They deserve credit for restricting Ireland to 22 points (the lowest of their Championship campaign) last weekend.
England Attack v France Defence
England have struggled in attack with their 87 points total less than Ireland (127), Scotland (102) and France (95) in the Championship so far. However, they did show signs of major improvement last weekend in an attacking sense putting 23 points past Ireland.
France have conceded 91 points this tournament (1 more than England) and their 10 tries conceded is the joint second least (with England) and only bettered by Ireland who have only conceded 6 tries. However, while they won last weekend against Wales their 24 points conceded total was the most a faltering Welsh side has scored in the Championship so far.
France v England Rugby Head-To-Head
All-Time Head-To-Head Record
England and France have been playing each other in rugby union since 1906 when a game was held at Parc des Princes in Paris.
England and France have played each other on 110 occasions, England winning 60, France winning 43, and 7 matches have been drawn. Overall, England scored 1,757 points, and France has 1,457.
Head-To-Head Results Last Five Matches
2023: France won 10-53 in Twickenham Stadium
2022: France won 25-13- in Stade De France
2021: England won 23-20 in Twickenham Stadium
2020: England won 22-19 in Twickenham Stadium
2020: France won 24-17 in Stade De France
Trends
From their last 10 fixtures, both sides are tied on 5 wins a piece.
Key Players
Gael Fickou – France
One of France’s more solid performers during the Championship is Racing 92 star and Outside Centre Fickou who is their top try scorer in the tournament so far with 2 tries 1 against Scotland and 1 against Wales last weekend.
Maro Itoje – England
The Saracens Lock/Flanker has been a talismanic performer for his country since making his debut for England in 2016. Last weekend he put in another strong performance in their win against Ireland doing well at line-outs but also making 11 defensive tackles in the 80 minutes.
France v England Prediction & Best Bet
Prediction: France 24-18 England
France have flattered to deceive throughout this tournament despite their pre-tournament hopes of landing a Grand Slam to massage the disappointment of their RWC exit and are currently 4 th in the Championship.
England are currently second but, arguably also have been very lucky with their results in this Championship, although their victory over Ireland last weekend against Ireland was their best performance in recent memory.
France are favourites with home advantage, but I believe it will be a tightly-fought game.
Best Bet: England +7 @ EVS
Click Below For Our LIVE France v England Odds
*Prices subject to fluctuation
