After France’s “drab” and disappointing 13-13 draw against Italy on 25 February, France coach Fabien Galthie rang the changes ahead of their match against Wales a fortnight later, making eight changes to his lineup.

France then hammered Wales (who look likely to take the wooden spoon) 45-24, and Galthie has decided to stick with his winning combination for the final game of the tournament, which will be against Steve Borthwick’s England in Lyon on Saturday at 10pm SAST.

The France versus England clash will be the last game of the 2024 Six Nations, and the winner of that match might be able to snatch the Six Nations title away from current table-toppers Ireland. However, that would require England or France to win their match by a large margin, and for Scotland to inflict a heavy defeat on Ireland.

“The team won, put in a great performance last weekend. The team had changed a lot. It’s what we had felt for a while, (so) it’s ideal to be able to keep the same team.” said Galthie in a press conference on Thursday.

“We chose to do things with consistency, we preferred to see what happened on the field, feel energy and react,” added Galthie, who has not fielded the same side in two matches running since February 2023.

“The joy is when players create competitiveness between them, when they all want to wear the jersey and go grab it,” said Galthie. “When we open the door to new players because we feel we need energy, then we get the response straight away – that’s also the joy.”