Catalans coach Potter insists: England will be far too strong for France

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Catalans Dragons coach Mick Potter, whose side form the bulk of the French
national team, expects England to be too strong for their hosts in tomorrow's
Gillette international in Toulouse.

The Dragons, who are sitting in third place in their most successful Super League campaign so far, provide no fewer than 10 players in John Monie's 18-strong squad, including captain Jerome Guisset and five other members of the pack.

The squad also includes ex-Catalans Julien Rinaldi (Harlequins) and Adel Fellous (Widnes) and Leeds loan signing Eric Anselme, who are match hardened through playing for their English clubs, but Potter believes the rest of the players from the domestic competition which finished two months ago could be their weak link.

Handling the pressure: Jon Wilkin and England coach Tony Smith

'England have picked a very strong team,' said Potter. 'France, at their best, will probably - hopefully - be able to hang in there and be competitive.

'But the part-time French players are probably going to be their downfall. It's not that their skill isn't good enough but their endurance level is not up to Super League standard.

'They just can't go for 80 minutes. If I was a betting man, I'd say England will be too strong.

'The French might be able to come up with some special plays but, if England get on a roll, they will be hard to stop.'

Like England, France are using tomorrow's full international at the Ernest Wallon Stadium to build their preparation for the World Cup, in which they will face group games against Scotland and Fiji.

France's sports minister Bernard Laporte, the former French rugby union national coach, is expected to be among the 10,000 crowd and Potter, who will succeed fellow Australian Daniel Anderson at St Helens next year, is hoping home advantage will help level up the contest.

'Maybe playing in France helps out a bit and they will have the crowd behind them,' he said. 'I've certainly got a soft spot for France and I'd like to see them do well.

'But England have got some strike all over the park. They've got 13 players from the top two teams in the competition so they're going to be hard to beat.

'On top of that, France have got a couple of injury concerns. They are probably not going to be at their best but they will be enthusiastic.'

Castleford's uncapped back-row forward Joe Westerman, 18, and Warrington
second-rower Ben Westwood were the two players to drop out of England coach
Smith's initial 19-man squad when he finalised his line-up.

As expected, Hull KR winger Peter Fox will make his international debut but all the other 16 players featured in Great Britain's whitewash of the Kiwis last year.

England: P Wellens (St Helens); A Gardner (St Helens), M Gleeson (Warrington),
K Senior (Leeds), P Fox (Hull KR); L Pryce (St Helens), R Burrow (Leeds); A Morley (Warrington), J Roby (St Helens), J Peacock (Leeds, capt), G Ellis (Leeds), S Burgess (Bradford), K Sinfield (Leeds).

Subs: J Graham (St Helens), M Fa'asavalu (St Helens), J Wilkin (St Helens), D
McGuire (Leeds).