RBS Six Nations: Lièvremont turns to experience for England clash at Twickenham

France head coach Marc Lièvremont has turned to experience for his team's Championship showdown with England at Twickenham on Saturday.

Dimitri Yachvili, Yannick Jauzion, Vincent Clerc and Sébastien Chabal have all been recalled in a revamped starting XV, which also sees Maxime Médard move from wing to full-back with Clement Poitrenaud dropping to the bench.

The recalled quarter have more than 200 caps between them, with Lièvremont clearly believing that Twickenham won't be for the faint-hearted.

Biarritz scrum-half Yachvili comes in for Clermont Auvergne youngster Morgan Parra, with Jauzion replacing Damien Traille and Clerc filling the wing vacancy created by Médard's move to full-back.

Médard sat out training on Tuesday due to a thigh problem, with the in-form Stade Toulousain player due to have an MRI scan to discover the extent of the problem. Should he require rest it's likely that Lièvremont will turn to Traille at No 15 after Poitrenaud's butter-fingered display against the Irish two weeks ago.

Chabal gets a rare start at No 8 as Lièvremont tinkers with his back row, moving Imanol Harinordoquy to seven at the expense of Clermont's Julien Bonnaire.

Former captain Lionel Nallet, meanwhile, claims the Grand Slam champions will go to Twickenham as underdogs.

Both England and France have won their opening two Six Nations matches, but Nallet believes home advantage will give England the pre-match edge.

"The English are on the up and we, well we are going there as underdogs," he admitted.

"We still have in our heads memories of the summer tour and the Australian experience. It is vital we take on the English with an inferiority complex while still retaining the lessons of these dispiriting losses.

"Just because we have won two Six Nations matches doesn't mean that everything is going smoothly and that those type of defeats can't happen again," he added.

The Racing-Métro 92 lock also echoed his coach Marc Lièvremont's comments about the traditional hostility between France and England.

"There is a history between the two countries. It's like a cat and a dog. At the end of the day it's not meant badly for we don't like each other without really knowing why. These days it is a tradition and each of us from both sides plays it up a little," he added.

France go into the match having won their previous eight games in the Six Nations, but Nallet is all to aware of what happened the last time 'Les Bleus' journeyed to England. The 34-year-old was captain of France that day as his side were blown away 34-10.

"I remember that we were overwhelmed," he recalled. "It is the type of match where you are taken unawares and you just don't succeed in reacting positively. We were outmatched in both combativity and speed," he added.

England manager Martin Johnson will be hoping his energized team can put in a similar performance to that memorable victory, and he brushed off Lièvremont's talk of enmity.

"If I read Marc's quotes correctly they respect us a team," said Johnson. "They have said from the outset that if they win here they will win the Championship. We have been through one of these big build-ups already for the Wales game. That was a big challenge for us as a team and some of our individuals.

"I thought we handled it well. We are used to it, it is what we want. These big games are what we work for. There will be pressure, there will be quotes used by the media to generate the hype. There is enough history in this game and in the history of the two countries to spice it up," he added.

Fly-half Toby Flood also played down Lièvremont's comments, saying it showed the French "are taking notice of us and asking questions about how we are playing".

Earlier this week Lièvremont said: "We appreciate our Italian cousins, with whom we share the same quality of life. We appreciate the Celts and their conviviality, and then among all these nations we have one huge thing in common - we all don't like the English," he explained.

"We beat Ireland yet left Dublin with the encouragement of all the Irish who said 'For pity's sake beat the English'," he added. "With the Scots it's the same thing. It is also what gives you strength against the English, more than just because of rugby."

But Lièvremont admitted that he respected the current England side, admitting they were ahead of France in terms of World Cup planning.

"This insular country, who always drape themselves in the national flag, their hymns, their chants, their traditions. They are people who one regards as a very proud people. But we are also aware, in terms of planning and preparation, that the English are already in 2011 World Cup mode. We can feel that all of the English players are physically on a different level," he added.