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France v England: Ollie Chessum comes in for Six Nations finale


Under-pressure England have made a solitary change to their starting line-up to face France in the final round of the Six Nations on Saturday with Ollie Chessum coming into the back row.

The versatile Chessum, 25, started the first three games of England’s campaign in the second row, but will add weight, ball-carrying power and a useful line-out option to the back row as blind-side flanker.

With Tom Curry out with a calf injury suffered in the warm-up of their loss to Italy, Guy Pepper shifts to open-side.

Sam Underhill, who came the starting line-up as a last-minute replacement for Curry in Rome, drops to the bench.

Elsewhere the side is unchanged, with Fin Smith continuing at fly-half, Seb Atkinson and Tommy Freeman in the centres and Alex Coles partnering captain Maro Itoje in the second row.

Underhill and Marcus Smith could win their 50th England caps off the bench.

England had earmarked this match as a potential title decider before the start of the Six Nations, but defeats by Scotland, Ireland and Italy have left them fifth in the table. Another loss would condemn them to the worst campaign in 27 years of the Six Nations.

France, level with Scotland on 16 points at the top of the table heading into the final round, will be clear on what they need to do to retain their Six Nations title come kick-off.

Scotland will play Ireland, who are two points off the leading two, in the first match of the day at 14:10 GMT.

England: Daly; Roebuck, Freeman, S Atkinson, Murley; F Smith, Spencer; Genge, George, Heyes, Itoje (capt), Coles, Chessum, Pepper, Earl

Replacements: Cowan-Dickie, Rodd, Davison, Cunningham-South, Underhill, Pollock, Van Poortvliet, M Smith



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