England v France: Teams

England's grand slam ambitions face Le Crunch at Twickenham against defending champions France on Saturday.

The extent of the progress made by Martin Johnson's men during victories over Wales and Italy will become clear in a showdown between the championship's only remaining unbeaten sides.

Sale prop Andrew Sheridan returns at loosehead in the solitary change to England's starting XV.

Sheridan missed the 59-13 win over the Azzurri at Twickenham due to a back spasm, Alex Corbisiero filling in admirably in his absence on debut.

Corbisiero is retained for bench duty but Johnson feels Sheridan's presence will be important to counter the threat of France's powerhouse front-row.

Memories

In Paris 12 months ago, Wasps loosehead Tim Payne struggled to cope with Nicolas Mas and England - who lost the game 12-10 - were penalised nine times in the first-half alone.

"It is pretty clear, when you look at what was happening last year, we have to be very strong on our loosehead side," said Johnson.

"Mas likes to get into that gap and put a lot of pressure through there. We have to stop him. We know it's coming. We have got to be up to it.

"They will want to get an advantage at the scrum rugby-wise and that will also be a psychological advantage.

"Sheridan is strong and powerful and he stands up in the toughest physical challenges in world rugby."

Lewis Moody, who captained England during the autumn internationals, trained with the squad during the week as he continues his recovery from a knee ligament problem but is not deemed fit enough to make his first appearance of the Six Nations. Mike Tindall continues as skipper in his absence.

Outspoken

France coach Marc Lievremont has been outspoken in the build-up with his observations on England's popularity with their neighbouring countries.

Lievremont made four changes to his starting XV - and then was forced to reverse one of those when full-back Maxime Medard was ruled out on Thursday with a hamstring injury.

Sebastien Chabal is the only alteration in the pack at the expense of Julien Bonnaire. Chabal will wear the number eight shirt with Imanol Harinordoquy switching to openside.

Lievremont has opted to go with experience in his back division, bringing in scrum-half Dimitri Yachvili, centre Yannick Jauzion and wing Vincent Clerc.

Medard's injury means a reprieve for Clement Poitrenaud - who was originally dropped from the match-day 22.

England: 15 B Foden, 14 C Ashton, 13 M Tindall (capt), 12 S Hape, 11 M Cueto, 10 T Flood, B Youngs; 1 A Sheridan, 2 D Hartley, 3 D Cole, 4 L Deacon, 5 T Palmer, 6 T Wood, 7 J Haskell, 8 N Easter
Replacements: 16 S Thompson, 17 A Corbisiero, 18 S Shaw, 19 H Fourie, 20 D Care, 21 J Wilkinson, 22 M Banahan

France: 15 C Poitrenaud, 14 Y Huget, 13 A Rougerie, 12 Y Jauzion, 11 V Clerc, 10 F Trinh-Duc, 9 D Yachvili; 1 T Domingo, 2 W Servat, 3 N Mas, 4 J Pierre, 5 L Nallet, 6 T Dusautoir (capt), 7 I Harinordoquy, 8 S Chabal
Replacements: 16 G Guirado, 17 S Marconnet, 18 J Thion, 19 J Bonnaire, 20 M Parra, 21 D Traille, 22 A Palisson