Yachvili, who replaces Jean-Baptiste Elissalde in the starting line-up for the Stade de France clash, has been the scourge of the English in the past two RBS 6 Nations tournaments.

The Biarritz star kicked 19 points against Les Bleus' cross-channel rivals in the final game of the 2004 competition to help secure the Grand Slam, while he spearheaded a second-half assault at Twickenham last year, booting all his team's points in an extraordinary 18-17 win.

Laporte will be hoping the dependable Yachvili completes a hat-trick of stellar displays in Paris this weekend.

This is not a punishment for Jean-Baptiste, said Laporte, who replaced Elissalde with Yachvili just before the interval in France's 37-12 comeback win over Italy last time out.

But Dimitri is fresher physically and he has always been good against the English.

Yachvili is one of two changes Laporte has made to his starting XV, with prop Sylvain Marconnet coming into the front row in place of Olivier Milloud, who drops to the substitutes' bench alongside Elissalde.

Dimitri Szarzewski joins the pair on the bench after recovering from an Achilles injury that has kept him out of Les Bleus' last two games.

He takes the place of Sebastien Bruno, while centre Ludovic Valbon is also drafted in as a replacement for the injured David Marty.

Fellow centre Florian Fritz is fit to start the game after recovering from a knee injury.

Laporte has preached patience ahead of the game with England, who top the RBS 6 Nations table on four points - the same tally as France, Ireland and Scotland.

France have been below par this tournament, following up their surprise 20-16 defeat to Scotland with unconvincing wins over Ireland and Italy.

But Laporte added: I am not fearing a similar lapse in form against England that we showed against Ireland and Italy.

We feel relaxed but we know that we must be patient against the English and not be scared to take a step back during the game.

England, who have also lost to Scotland this tournament, have sometimes been accused of lacking flair in their attacking play but can always be relied upon to offer steel in the pack and a strong defensive alignment all over the pitch.

The English are a brick wall that we must try to break,'' said Laporte. They are like a wall but this wall is never impenetrable for us.

Like us, the English are looking ahead to the World Cup (in 2007). And they are always the team to beat, just like us.