Tommy Freeman insists England are assured of containing France’s scrum-half genius Antoine Dupont in Saturday’s Guinness Six Nations showdown on the Allianz Stadium.
Dupont underlined his inventive brilliance in Friday’s demolition of Wales to supply extra compelling proof to those that argue that he’s the game’s biggest participant of all time.
England have been busy devising a method to stop the Toulouse ringmaster from operating the present in a must-win encounter and Freeman insists he isn’t invulnerable.
“You can’t underestimate how good a player he is, but he’s human. He’s like everyone else – you take his legs and he goes down,” the Northampton wing mentioned. “It’s all about picking things up nice and early with him and putting him under pressure.
“I am certain like another participant, whenever you put stress on them they begin to leak a couple of alternatives.”
France set the Six Nations alight with their 43-0 Dupont-inspired drubbing of Wales and fears are rising that they’re poised to inflict additional distress on England.
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The Occasions’ Martyn Ziegler displays on France’s crushing 43-0 win over Wales within the Six Nations opener, which has heaped stress on Warren Gatland
A 27-22 defeat by Eire on Saturday registered a record-equalling seventh successive defeat towards top-tier opposition for Steve Borthwick’s facet, and yet another loss would signify a brand new low within the nation’s 154-year rugby historical past.
On present type the Twickenham showdown is a mismatch, however Freeman is adamant that England can pull off the upset.
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England captain Maro Itoje mentioned his facet endured a troublesome second half as they have been overwhelmed by Eire within the Six Nations however believes there are positives to construct on
“Of course we can. At the end of the day everyone is human, it’s rugby,” Freeman mentioned. “They’ll have a gameplan, we’ll have a gameplan and we’ll back ours to the moon and back. They’ll do the same to theirs. We’ll give ours as best a shot as we can.
“Clearly we wished to return away with a consequence towards Eire. We felt like our first half was unbelievable. We got here out firing and left all of it on the market. There was in all probability a component within the second half the place we lapsed in focus and some issues did not go our manner.
“We’re disappointed with that, but the promise we’ve got in this squad means it’s going to tick and it’s going to change. Hopefully we’ll get on the right side of the results.”
Maro Itoje displays on a slim defeat for England of their Six Nations opener towards Eire
England’s Murley emerges as harm doubt
Cadan Murley has emerged as a doubt towards France due to a foot downside sustained in Dublin that pressured him to overlook Monday’s coaching session.
The 25-year-old Harlequins wing made his Take a look at debut on the Aviva Stadium and whereas he ran within the opening strive, he was accountable for two obvious errors that invited stress on to England, leaving him preventing for his place within the staff.
Cadan Murley opened the scoring for England in Dublin on Saturday
Ollie Sleightholme is the almost certainly different to fill the quantity 11 jersey if Murley is dominated out, as England look to offer their Six Nations lift-off by toppling France. Borthwick is anticipated to call his staff on Thursday.
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