March 17th, 2010 by Adam Davies

The media have been making a racket about it for seemingly the whole tournament, and now England coach Martin Johnson has finally bowed to the pressure: Jonny Wilkinson has been dropped for the forthcoming match against France. Leicester fly half Toby Flood gets the opportunity to shine in his place, and with his good form at club level, and ability to run at defences, it could provide the impetus England are looking for. After a disappointing game with Scotland, Johnson has shaken things up with six changes to the side. France see little need to change a winning side, and the one alteration ahead of the match they need to win for the Grand Slam title will be a return to the side from Mathieu Bastareaud after a minor calf injury.

While the French have been in imperious form throughout the tournament, they have not defeated England in a competitive match since 2006. There are a number of permutations that need to come into play in order for France to concede the title. Ireland will need to defeat a plucky Scottish side in order to have any hope of retaining their title, and pray that England defeat the French. Those two results will have to recover a points difference of +50 in France’s favour, so Ireland will need to win by a large margin and hope England do the same.

There are still tickets available for the crucial match at the Stade de France this Saturday, and Tixdaq.com has the cheapest available!

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