England have failed to beat the French since their 2003 World Cup semi-final triumph in Sydney, and even with home advantage, the odds are stacked against them ending that sequence this weekend.

England's degree of difficulty has been increased by the absence of injured trio Phil Vickery, Jonny Wilkinson and Andy Farrell, while they are also on the back of a record Six Nations defeat against Ireland two weeks ago.

With Vickery sidelined, the captaincy has passed to 35-year-old London Irish centre Mike Catt, who makes his first Six Nations start since 2001.

Ashton has made 11 changes, including three positional switches, from the side that crashed 43-13 at Croke Park, with almost half the side having less than 10 caps.

Ashton, though, is optimistic his players can consign the Dublin debacle to history and produce a performance that could see them keep alive their flickering Six Nations title hopes.

Head coach Ashton said: What we don't want is a repeat of the non-challenging performance we saw at Croke Park.

We have really got to go for it, and we have got to have massive courage to do it. There is no hiding place.

If we put on a performance that is a real mind-set change from the Italy and Ireland games, then it would give me and the players confidence we are on the right track.

Ashton made a brutally realistic assessment of England's current status earlier this week when he described them as being in the second division of world rugby.

Ashton added: We have been in the second division for a while, which is a very sad admission, but it is really difficult to argue with that with the results and the performance we've had.

A win against France would give us a massive confidence boost, and while it wouldn't put us back into division one, it is really important that we bounce back.

While the likes of Catt, Martin Corry, Mike Tindall and Joe Worsley will be expected to hold together the performance through their considerable international experience, rookies such a fly-half Toby Flood and flanker Tom Rees will need to come of age very quickly.

But the key to an overdue England revival undoubtedly lies with the forwards, who were outclassed and out-muscled by a rampant Irish eight.

Four of the pack on duty in Dublin - Perry Freshwater, Louis Deacon, Danny Grewcock and Magnus Lund - have been relegated from the starting line-up, and Ashton is eager for the forwards to perform with far more dynamism.

But Ashton is under no illusions about the challenge France will present, especially following impressive victories on the road already this season against Six Nations rivals Italy and Ireland.

Ashton said: France are pretty formidable all over the pitch.

They have a strong set-piece and their lineout has improved since the start of the tournament.