Sebastien Chabal: A savage beast...
Anyone heading to Twickenham expecting to see the show, Beauty and The Beast on Sunday can forget about it. France arrives on English shores packing one of their beefiest-ever teams and are primed to take Martin Johnson and his tyros on head-to-head.
With Sebastien Chabal at openside, Lionel Faure packing down in front of Romain Millo-Chluski, France's heavyweights ticks the scales at a combined 885 kilos. And with mutant Mathieu Bastareaud in the centre, the tricalores have put the champagne rugby on ice, choosing instead for a far more bruising bunch to meet stubborn with stubborn.
France showed against Ireland they no longer travel light and underprepared, whereas their overbearing forward dominance in Paris against Wales - something they have sorely lacked when bullied by England in recent meetings - reverberated around Europe like an earthquake.
At their devastating counter-attacking best, France bless the pace, power and jaw-dropping improvisation to savage the tightest defensive ship, capable of creating overlaps and space for their flying back-three with aplomb.
England's atrocious kicking must improve. Delon Armitage's bomb of a right boot should be used more effectively and positioning Toby Flood and Riki Flutey on either side to split the back-line could breed better success.
In Maxime Medard, France have unearthed a gem and giving him a 10m headstart from which to kick his heels would be criminal.
England has a habit of frustrating French flair and ironically forced them into mistakes and indiscipline, more accustomed with the men in white in 2009.
As game-plan's go, England have based their negative pattern on defence - make your tackles, kick deep and suffocate quick ball - and their limited endeavor albeit largely criticised can be extremely effective against teams that thrive on their natural instincts.
English rugby cultures is weighed down by the fear of failure at present with discipline and trust a real issue. If they believe they can win the mini-battles and find some self-belief, then we could start seeing more fluency, seemingly waiting to burst out.
England must keep hold of their possession; or rather stop France from wracking up the phases. England need a win, a point will do, because if it wasn't Martin Johnson with his grand old reputation, heads would've rolled by now.