TODAY Phil de Glanville has the perfect international stage on which to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the Lions' selectors were wrong to leave him out of their 62-man preliminary squad announced last week.
France, who have beaten England twice in the past two years, offer the kind of gifted, powerful challenge that is guaranteed to tax the England captain and his players far more severely than Scotland and Ireland, last month's relatively compliant Five Nations victims.
De Glanville did himself no favours this week by declining to elaborate on his controversial claim that he was left out of the Lions squad because of personal differences with the manager Fran Cotton. If that accusation is true the England captain ought to give chapter and verse so that Cotton can answer the charge of prejudice: if de Glanville is merely indulging in paranoid fantasy then the England skipper should, as players are wont to say, do his talking on the rugby field.
De Glanville's midfield partner Will Carling frequently moves up a couple of gears in games against the French, which is probably just as well since Carling too has a point to prove on the depth of his commitment, having turned down a Lions place after apparently being offered the job of Lions captain.
It is no secret that the French, who have not won at Twickenham for 10 years, regard England's back three Jon Sleightholme, Tony Underwood and Tim Stimpson - as their Achilles heel when the opposition have the ball.
De Glanville's most obvious weakness, a loss of pace due possibly to the effects of an early-season injury, has been highlighted by the presence on the bench of Carling's one-time partner Jeremy Guscott. True, the England captain has helped improve the running lines of his backs and his tactical nous is not in question, but it is an open question whether he can find the aggressive edge to unsettle the French centres Christophe Lamaison and Stephane Glas.
Record scores against Scotland and Ireland yielded an aggregate 87 points including 10 tries that have set an almost impossible standard for their meetings with France and Wales.
The crucial theatre of operations in this game is likely to be the back row where Richard Hill, Tim Rodber and Lawrence Dallaglio find themselves in opposition to Olivier Magne, Fabien Pelous and Abdel Benazzi, the captain whose name has been linked with Newcastle and Wasps. Traditionally England rely on their loose forwards to put the big squeeze on French initiative, denying their ball handlers the kind of quick clean possession that allows them to give shape to their attacking potential.
Hill, whose training this week was restricted by an ankle problem, will be expected to continue the vital creative work that enabled the half-backs Andy Gomarsall and Paul Grayson to flourish in the Ireland game. The Saracens open side's all-round skills in defence as well as attack have Iifted his team mates on to a fresh plateau of confidence, inspiring the interactive rugby that the coach Jack Rowell has long talked about.
Nevertheless, England must beware of France's ability to weather the forward storm, step up their second-half commitment, and get scores on the board with unnerving suddenness. The Brive quartet - Alain Penaud, Philippe Carbonneau, David Venditti and Lamaison - have improved the cohesion and continuity of the back division which with customary French brio has managed to paper over the cracks that sometimes appear up front.
Few would deny that France are vulnerable in the line-out where Olivier Merle, Hugues Miorin and Benazzi are likely to struggle against the England trio, Martin Johnson, Rodber and Simon Shaw. Obviously it would be in France's interest to keep the ball in hand rather than rely on the tactical kicking of Penaud but they could find that opportunities to utilise the blistering speed of Venditti and the full-back Jean-Luc Sadourny circumscribed by England's offensive system of defence.
Given the presence of abundant attacking talent on both sides, there is every chance that the average of 51 points scored in this year's Five Nations' matches will be exceeded this afternoon. The new age rugby England have fostered ought to strike a responsible chord among Les Tricolors, whose backs coach Pierre Villepreux will not want to be upstaged on his old stamping ground. It has all the makings of a classic encounter - with the prize of a Grand Slam beckoning the winners.
