France vs England: Six Nations war of words escalates on eve of ‘Le Crunch’

The build-up to Sunday’s Anglo-French clash at the Stade de France has been dominated by talk of brutality, violence and war, with England boss Eddie Jones predictably at the heart of the pre-match mind games

The Six Nations war of words ramped up a notch on the eve of ‘Le Crunch’ as former France captain Raphael Ibanez told England to “bring it on”, though the hosts were forced into a last-minute change after losing wing Damian Penaud to injury.

The build-up to Sunday’s Anglo-French clash at the Stade de France has been dominated by talk of brutality, violence and war, with England boss Eddie Jones at the heart of the pre-match mind games.

Jones has promised to deliver a physical beating on the French like they’ve never experienced before, but the challenge has been more than accepted by the hosts as team manager Ibanez was happy to chuck a verbal grenade of his own into the mix by taunting the English over how they were dominated by South Africa three months’ ago.

“The England pack will try to redeem themselves after the experience of the World Cup final in that area,” Ibanez said. “We are very aware of their quality in the forwards. They have a great, big, strong tight five and hopefully we’ll be able to match that.

“There’s no doubt it’s an area where there will be a fierce battle. But that’s what Test match rugby is all about. Good. Bring it on.”

Jones’s call for “physical brutality” translates poorly in French with strong connotations of violence, though the England head coach doubled down on his claims on Friday by suggesting rugby is a violent game regardless of intent.But Ibanez has given his comments short shrift because come Sunday afternoon, it will be the 46 players on the field who do the talking.

“It’s easy to talk when you are sitting in stands and that’s exactly what we’ll be experiencing – Fabien (Galthie), myself and the English head coach,” Ibanez added.

“It’s always down to the players to express themselves, so let the players do the talking.”

One player who will not feature though is talented Clermont Auvergne wing Penaud, who failed a fitness test on Saturday after appearing at the captain’s run with his left calf strapped. Vincent Rattez will take his place in the starting line-up with either Thomas Ramos of Toulouse or Montpellier centre Arthur Vincent set to be included on the replacements’ bench, but despite Penaud’s absence England’s new attack coach Simon Amor believe the French have more than enough weapons in their armoury to hurt the visitors if they are off their game defensively.

“Certainly we’re well aware of the wonderful threats that the French backline possesses, particularly in broken field play,” Amor said. “If we give them space we know how dangerous and capable they are. It’s really important that we don’t give them that space, that we maintain a real tight composure around them.

Amor was Great Britain’s Sevens coach at the 2016 Olympics when he saw French centre Virimi Vakatawa at first hand, and the Racing 92 back has been pinpointed as the dangerman given his rampant form in the Top 14 this season, with the midfielder scoring seven tries in 10 games for his club this season in his third campaign back in the longer format of the game.

“He was phenomenal for the French sevens team and was a constant threat,” said Amor. “To see the progress and the transition he has made and to take that attacking threat into the 15-a-side game has been excellent.

“He is a danger man and is playing well at the moment as well. We’re well aware of that. We have some great players ourselves. We think we’re able to contain him.”