World Cup warm-up match: For the third weekend in a row England have had to change their starting line-up on the eve of battle.

The unfortunate man this time is hooker George Chuter, who has a knee strain sore enough to require a scan next week, forcing Mark Regan to wear the jersey tonight. France have plenty of respect for the wily Bristolian but Regan's presence reopens a dangerous can of worms.

Ever since England's game against Wales a fortnight ago, there have been frowns of disapproval from rival coaches regarding aspects of England's set-piece work. Initially it was South Africa's Jake White who complained about Regan deliberately standing to one side of the lineout as he threw the ball in and encroaching illegally on to the field, thereby making life tougher for the opposition jumpers.

Sure enough, the Irish referee, Alan Lewis, was on to Regan last week like an over-zealous pest controller, accusing him at one stage of "being an annoyance".

This week France's Bernard Laporte has also been muttering about England scrummaging techniques, probably to shift attention away from the "Scrum SOS" and "Scrum in Danger" headlines in yesterday's local papers.

Today's referee, Ireland's Alain Rolland, happens to be a fluent French speaker and the World Cup consequences for England will be dire if many more officials, near the 30th anniversary of Elvis's death, start regarding them with suspicious minds.

Ashton is understood to be more concerned in private than he is letting on. "It would concern me if they were but I don't believe they are," he said yesterday. "I trust the referees to do their job objectively on the day."

His captain, Phil Vickery, also opted for diplomacy - "Alain Rolland is one of the best in the world and I'm sure he'll referee it as he sees fit" - but it would be a surprise if France, for whom Fabien Pelous will establish a national record by winning his 112th cap, do not produce a more focused scrummage than last week when England enjoyed 60 per cent of possession and territory and still lost 21-15.

Having said that, the hosts must again wheel out Olivier Milloud and Jean-Baptiste Poux as Pieter de Villiers and Sylvain Marconnet are still not fit; the fact Marconnet has been given until August 31st to prove his fitness after a broken leg suffered on the ski slopes speaks volumes.

Lest England be feeling remotely cocky, there remains the Marseille factor. France simply do not lose here under normal circumstances, although Ashton's squad is deliberately packed with enough hard-bitten individuals to make even "Popeye" Doyle hesitate momentarily down a dark alley off the Old Port.

"With the mindset of the players we've got now, there's not a lot of difference between playing at home and playing away," insisted Ashton, tiring of references to England's 14 defeats in their last 15 away Tests. "The pitch has the same dimensions as everywhere else in the world. I think we've a much stronger group of characters than at any time since I've been involved. I don't think there's any comparison, with due respect, to the teams that played in South Africa and Croke Park this year."

Ashton's stated goals, therefore, are to conclude England's build-up with a morale-boosting win which also demonstrates his team are "moving forwards" on all fronts. The result remains the priority - "If we win by playing like we have done in the past two weeks, you won't find me crying over a bottle of wine afterwards" - but the backrow endeavours of Tom Rees and Nick Easter and the midfield liaison of Dan Hipkiss and Andy Farrell will also be closely monitored.

"There's been a huge amount of talk in the last few weeks but ultimately we're still not proving it on the field yet," Vickery conceded. "Strides are being made but there's still more to come."

• Guardian Service

FRANCE: C Poitrenaud; C Heymans, D Traille, Y Jauzion, C Dominici; F Michalak, J-B Elissalde; O Milloud, R Ibanez (capt), J-B Poux, F Pelous, J Thion, Y Nyanga, T Dusautoir, I Harinordoquy. Replacements: S Bruno, N Mas, L Nallet, J Bonnaire, P Mignoni, D Skrela, A Rougerie.

ENGLAND: M Cueto; J Lewsey, D Hipkiss, A Farrell, J Robinson; J Wilkinson, S Perry; P Freshwater, M Regan, P Vickery (capt), S Shaw, S Borthwick, M Corry, T Rees, N Easter. Replacements: L Mears, M Stevens, J Worsley, L Dallaglio, A Gomarsall, O Barkley, P Sackey.

France v England Stade Velodrome, Marseille Saturday, 8.0 On TV: Sky Sports 2.