Saints trio start again as England face France in Six Nations finale

Alex Coles, Fin Smith and Tommy Freeman will start again for England when they face France in Paris on Saturday night (kick-off 8.10pm GMT).

The Saints trio keep their places in a starting XV that shows one change to the team that lost 23-18 to Italy in Rome last Saturday as Ollie Chessum replaces the injured Tom Curry.

Tommy Freeman scored against Italy last weekend (photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

placeholder image — Tommy Freeman scored against Italy last weekend (photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Trevor Davison and Henry Pollock are again on the bench for England as they conclude their Guinness Six Nations campaign this weekend.

But Manny Iyogun, Fraser Dingwall and George Furbank will again play no part for the Red Rose.

“It’s a huge challenge under the lights in Paris against a very strong France side,” said England boss Steve Borthwick.

“England versus France is one of the great rivalries in international rugby and we’re looking forward to the occasion.”

England team to face France: 15 Elliot Daly (Saracens, 75 caps); 14 Tom Roebuck (Sale Sharks, 11 caps), 13 Tommy Freeman (Saints, 26 caps), 12 Seb Atkinson (Gloucester Rugby, 3 caps), 11 Cadan Murley (Harlequins, 5 caps); 10 Fin Smith (Saints, 15 caps), 9 Ben Spencer (Bath Rugby, 17 caps); 1 Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears, 79 caps) – vice-captain, 2 Jamie George (Saracens, 109 caps) – vice-captain, 3 Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers, 21 caps); 4 Maro Itoje (Saracens, 101 caps) – captain, 5 Alex Coles (Saints, 18 caps); 6 Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers, 34 caps), 7 Guy Pepper (Bath Rugby, 11 caps), 8 Ben Earl (Saracens, 50 caps).

Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie (Sale Sharks, 57 caps), 17 Bevan Rodd (Sale Sharks, 14 caps), 18 Trevor Davison (Saints, 7 caps), 19 Chandler Cunningham-South (Harlequins, 21 caps), 20 Sam Underhill (Bath Rugby, 49 caps), 21 Henry Pollock (Saints, 9 caps), 22 Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester Tigers, 23 caps), 23 Marcus Smith (Harlequins, 49 caps).