France v England: Teams
Lewis Moody will captain England for the first time in Saturday's Six Nations clash with France after Steve Borthwick was ruled out.
Last Updated: 20/03/10 10:23pm
England have handed the captaincy to Lewis Moody after it was confirmed that regular skipper Steve Borthwick was ruled out of Saturday's final RBS Six nations clash against France.
Saracens lock Borthwick had been struggling with a knee injury picked up in the Calcutta Cup draw against Scotland last week, and he has not recovered enough to be fit to line-up in Paris.
Leicester flanker Moody has been chosen to step in and lead Martin Johnson's side in Borthwick's absence, with the 31-year-old being made captain for the first time.
Moody will be making his 61st appearance for his country and has played in every game off the Six Nations so far this season.
The energetic back row forward always leads by example from his performances in any game, and Johnson hopes he will spur on his team as they look to foil France' Grand Slam ambitions.
Leicester forward Louis Deacon is promoted from the replacements bench to the starting XV and his place is taken by Tom Palmer.
"Lewis is an inspirational figure in the group and he will bring us that energy and dynamism," said Johnson.
"There is a core group of leaders and we could have chosen two or three guys. Mike Tindall has just come back as a senior player and Nick Easter is a leader at number eight.
"Steve's injury is worse than we first thought and he is out for us this week. Louis will start and Tom Palmer comes on to the bench. We brought him in because of his lineout ability."
England (revised): 15 Ben Foden, 14 Mark Cueto, 13 Mike Tindall, 12 Riki Flutey, 11 Chris Ashton, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Danny Care , 8 Nick Easter, 7 Lewis Moody (c), 6 Joe Worsley, 5 Louis Deacon , 4 Simon Shaw, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Tim Payne .
Replacements: 16 Steve Thompson, 17 David Wilson, 18 Tom Palmer, 19 James Haskell, 20 Ben Youngs, 21 Jonny Wilkinson, 22 Mathew Tait.
France: 15 C Poitrenaud, 14 M Andreu, 13 M Bastareaud, 12 Y Jauzion, 11 A Palisson, 10 F Trinh-Duc, 9 M Parra (Clermont Auvergne), 1 T Domingo, 2 W Servat, 3 N Mas, 4 L Nallet, 5 J Pierre , 6 T Dusautoir (c), 7 J Bonnaire, 8 I Harinordoquy.
Replacements: 16 D Szarzewski, 17 J-B Poux, 18 S Chabal, 19 A Lapandry, 20 D Yachvili, 21 D Marty, 22 J Malzieu.
