While Twickenham has hardly been a happy hunting ground for the French in recent times, the name Dimitri Yachvili will strike fear into the hearts of England supporters.

The last time Les Bleus left south west London victorious, it was, in no small part, down to the kicking masterclass of the Biarritz scrum-half.

Yachvili booted all of France's points in an 18-17 victory in 2005 - recovering from a 17-6 half time deficit - to inflict on England their second straight defeat in the tournament.

With a nod to history, Lievremont has dropped in-form Morgan Parra and handed Yachvili the No.9 shirt.

Sebastien Chabal - no stranger to England's pack after his spell with Sale Sharks - has also returned to the back row at No.8 in place of Julien Bonnaire.

Those are just two of four personnel changes made by Lievremont, who also did little to smooth over Anglo-French relations by calling England arrogant - a trait that he claims makes them hated by the Celtic nations.

But Lievremont tried to pour cold water on what was already going to be an explosive encounter by saying his comments were actually a back-handed compliment.

He said: "We had no intention of provoking them. I was just putting into words something that is quite clear - that the Celtic countries do not greatly appreciate the English.

"In fact I think it is a compliment for the English because I think they are proud of being different from the others.

"They cultivate this nationalistic sentiment in the proper sense of the term. It is something they have that we envy.

"Even if we do not always understand each other, above all else, we have respect for this team."

Just as he did with Warren Gatland's criticism of Dylan Hartley, England coach Martin Johnson has refused to be drawn into a war of words.

His team virtually picked itself after their back-to-back victories at the start of the campaign.

Prop Andrew Sheridan, who missed the game against Italy last time out, returns to the squad in place on Alex Corbisiero while the only other likely change - the return of captain Lewis Moody - didn't happen. He's still sidelined with a knee injury.

All eyes at Twickenham will be on wing sensation Chris Ashton once again. The former rugby league man needs one more try to break the RBS 6 Nations record after scoring six in the opening two matches.

His swallow-dive finish has been the talk of the tournament so far, but Ashton says the hype has gone too far.

"The dive is something that came out of nowhere and it just happened," said Ashton. "Everyone scores tries the way they want and it's all run away a bit.

"The only reason I am able to do it is because of how well the lads are playing and creating the chances."