England coach Steve Borthwick has made just one change for their Six Nations meeting with defending champions France in Paris on Saturday.
Ollie Chessum comes in at blindside flanker as England seek to avoid their worst-ever finish.
Borthwick has remained loyal to the overhauled backline that misfired in the 23-18 defeat by Italy in Rome, with Fin Smith continuing at flyhalf for Saturday’s game in Paris.
Instead, Borthwick tinkered with his back row by installing Chessum at blindside and moving Guy Pepper to openside at the expense of Sam Underhill, who drops to the bench for the climax to the championship.
Underhill was promoted to the starting XV at the Stadio Olimpico when Tom Curry suffered a calf injury during the warm-up, but against France he will act as a replacement as part of a six-two split between forwards and backs.
By starting Chessum, Borthwick is strengthening England’s lineout and giving his pack greater ballast to take on France’s giant forwards.
The 25-year-old Leicester captain has played the bulk of his rugby for club and country in the second row and his most recent international appearance at blindside was in the 2024 Six Nations.
Underhill and Marcus Smith will win their 50th caps for England if they appear off the bench.
Nine changes in personnel and a further three positional switches were made against Italy, but England still crashed to defeat by the Azzurri for the first time in their history.
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Borthwick’s men started the Six Nations as one of the favourites but their campaign has been disastrous after an opening win against Wales.
If they lose to France, England will have completed the tournament with only one victory, in what would be their worst Six Nations performance.
If results go as expected they are likely to finish fifth in the table, just ahead of bottom side Wales.
“It’s a huge challenge under the lights in Paris against a very strong France side,” said Borthwick, who has been given a vote of confidence from the RFU.
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“England versus France is one of the great rivalries in international rugby and we’re looking forward to the occasion.”
France are level with Scotland on 16 points at the top of the Six Nations table heading into the final round and will know what they need to do when they kick off at the Stade de France.
Gregor Townsend’s Scotland take on Ireland, who are two points off the leading two, in the first match of the day. In between, Wales host Italy.
ENGLAND – 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Tom Roebuck, 13 Tommy Freeman, 12 Seb Atkinson, 11 Cadan Murley, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Ben Spencer, 8 Ben Earl, 7 Guy Pepper, 6 Ollie Chessum, 5 Alex Coles, 4 Maro Itoje (c), 3 Joe Heyes, 2 Jamie George, 1 Ellis Genge.
Bench: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Bevan Rodd, 18 Trevor Davison, 19 Chandler Cunningham-South, 20 Sam Underhill, 21 Henry Pollock, 22 Jack van Poortvliet, 23 Marcus Smith.
Photo: David Rogers/Getty Images
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