All eyes will be on Twickenham on Saturday evening as England take on France in their first Rugby World Cup warm-up match. Stuart Lancaster has picked a side including three debutants and plenty of others who know their performance in west London could make or break their chances of making the final 31-man squad. France coach Philippe Saint-Andre resisted the urge to pick a mammoth training squad but that arguably only makes cutting down his final squad harder, meaning there is plenty for those in blue to play for too.
Team News
It is the new-look centre pairing of Sam Burgess and Henry Slade that has garnered the headlines as each make their debut. Flanker Calum Clark will also earn his first cap and will be out to prove his versatility can be an asset come tournament time. At fly-half, Owen Farrell will be hoping for an assured performance as he bids to win back his place in Lancaster's first-choice XV.
France coach Philippe Saint-Andre has taken the opportunity to blood some of his fringe players with Remi Lamerat and Alexandre Dumoulin starting in the centres and Francois Trinh-Duc and Morgan Parra given a chance to impress at half back. Dimitri Szarzewski captains the side as he wins his 80th cap.
Key head-to-head
Much of the pre-match talk has centred on rugby league convert Burgess, and he is set for a test against opposite number Dumoulin. The Racing No.12 has a 100 percent record playing for Les Bleus, selected as he was for the autumn wins over Fiji and Australia. If the critics are right, and Burgess is too green to play inside-centre at international level, then he could be in for a long evening. Impress, though, and a place in the squad would be his.
Key stats
* England are unbeaten in their last four home meetings with France, who have not won at Twickenham since Aug. 2007.
* The 55 points England racked up in March was the most they have ever managed against Les Bleus.
* France have only ever beaten England 11 times in England, from 47 attempts.
Odds
England are heavy favourites for the game, with UniBet pricing them at 2/9 to win with France 31/10. If you are looking ahead to the tournament itself, the same firm has the Red Rose as second favourites at 4/1 and Les Bleus less favoured at 20/1.
Weather
Twickenham is predicted to be cloudy and grey tomorrow night, with a temperature around 18 degrees.
Prediction
It would be foolhardy to read too much into Ireland's victory last week given the changes that have been made. However, they look stronger than Scotland on paper and should win this comfortably.