French act on fear of Sheridan

It may have been coincidence but no sooner had 'Big Ted' banished the doubts over his fitness for a Six Nations return than the French took steps to rectify the weak link in their creaking scrum.

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Big problem: France are bidding to combat Sheridan

Julien Brugnaut, the novice prop who surprisingly survived the penalty-try trauma against Ireland to retain his place among the chosen few, will be safely out of harm's way in Paris on Saturday night.

France recalled the more experienced Jean-Baptiste Poux from Toulouse for Brugnaut, although they were adamant they had done so not out of fear of Sheridan repeating what he did to Australia in Marseille last autumn but out of sheer necessity because of injury.

As England head coach Brian Ashton agonised over a variety of selection issues, not least at scrum half, France also recalled a match-winner with an outstanding track record against England. Dimitri Yachvili, ignored for the World Cup, replaces the injured Jean-Baptiste Elissalde.

Yachvili beat England almost single-handedly in successive seasons, scoring 19 points in Paris in 2004 and 18 more at Twickenham the following season.

Neither change will make England's task any easier. The official line on Brugnaut's withdrawal, that he damaged a shoulder playing for Dax at the weekend, will ease some French anxiety over the destructive capacity of an English scrum fortified not only by Sheridan's recovery from a blood infection but Phil Vickery's from a training ground accident and a tummy bug which laid him low in Rome.

Now France will have Poux as the auxiliary tighthead behind Sheridan's starting opponent, Nicholas Mas.

In analysing the mechanics of his scrum after conceding a penalty try to Ireland in Paris 10 days ago, head coach Marc Lievremont will have the inside track on one Sale loose-head, Sheridan, from another, Lionel Faure who occupies the same position for his country.

Philippe Saint-Andre, Sale's director of rugby, said: 'Lionel and Andrew are good friends, but all the information you can get is not much use against someone like Andrew.

'You can talk all you like before the match about what will happen but the guy who has to scrum against Sheridan still does not sleep well on Friday night. England's strength is in the front five but they need to use the power of the forwards much more than they have used them in the tournament so far.'

Ashton went into his selection meeting on Monday night with several crucial decisions to be made and two uncapped players high on his list — London Irish scrum half Paul Hodgson and Leicester's multi-purpose back row forward Tom Croft.

Joe Worsley had played himself back into contention despite questions over his match fitness after one match in six weeks.

Shane Geraghty's luckless run of injuries forced the London Irish centre out of contention after he damaged a knee against Leicester on Sunday.

The interminable full back debate has been renewed since Rome, with none other than Wasps rugby director Ian McGeechan recommending Danny Cipriani's selection as an alternative to understudying Jonny Wilkinson on the bench.

As France and England prepare to go head-to-head, the World Cup organisers claimed on Monday that their last match, in last October's semi-final, broke all records for a live televised sporting event on the other side of the Channel.

Bernard Lapasset, chairman of the International Board, said: 'Over 20 million viewers in France tuned in to watch the semi-final, bettering the figure achieved for the soccer World Cup Final involving France at the same stadium in 1998. The coverage of the England-South Africa Final attracted the highest viewing figures for a single programme in the UK in 2007 with nearly 17 million.

'Rugby World Cup was the biggest sporting event to be staged last year. The rugby was of an exceptional standard, generating fascinating matches. It captured the hearts and minds of the French public and the wider global rugby community.'

World Cup directors released details confirming that the tournament hosted by France smashed all attendance and broadcast records set in Australia four years previously.

Attendances for the 48 matches totalled 2,240,000, an average of almost 47,000 a match, which topped the Australian total by more than 300,000. Organisers calculated the cumulative television audience at 4.2 billion, an increase of 800,000 on 2003.

Scotland name their team on Tuesday for Saturday's match against Ireland in Dublin amid continuing doubts over the return of skipper Jason White.

The Sale flanker sat out training at Murrayfield on Monday, still awaiting medical clearance to resume contact work after taking a blow to the head against Wales 10 days ago.