Les Bleus to reign supreme

For Brian Ashton to say he will not know his best starting XV until after the game against France beggars belief and confirms that England are not going to go into the World Cup with a settled winning side and that places are still up for grabs. Last weekend's defeat at Twickenham would have told the coach more about his squad than the gentle run againt Wales but it would not have been good news. When Jamie Noon at centre receives the plaudits for his defensive display it says a lot about how effective the side were in attack. With that in mind Ashton gives Andy Farrell and Dan Hipkiss another go at centre and recalls what is shaping up to be the starting back three - with Josh Lewsey and Jason Robinson on the wings and Mark Cueto at full-back. The problem against France was that a lot of promising positions were reduced to attacks off the back foot as Les Bleus defence was too physical. To add further ballast to his pack Ashton recalls Nick Easter and Martin Corry and gives fit-again flanker Tom Rees the specialist role of securing ball for the power players. France coach Bernard Laporte has again shown his adeptness in mind games by claiming that France are merely treating the game in Marseilles as another warm-up and he has made six changes to the team that won 21-15 at HQ. His changes however do not weaken the starting XV and arguably could strengthen the team performance as France won the battle last week off the bench with their impact players making the difference. France at home are always a handful and I fail to see much difference in the result to last week. Again England will go close but expect France to make the most of their opportunities to leave Ashton scratching his head as he tries to decide upon the XV that will line up against USA in just under three weeks. Verdict: 1pt France to win by 6-10pts @ 11/2 (SportingBet)