Early pressure key against France

 

After missing time with England following a string of injuries, Parling was back in a Red Rose shirt for the first time since the summer against Scotland last week.

 

And the lock played his part in a 25-13 victory, coming off the bench for the last 30 minutes and impressing Stuart Lancaster enough to name him in his starting XV for the 

clash with Les Bleus.

 

With England, Wales and Ireland only separated at the top of the table by points difference, the ability to rack up tries could prove to be vital.

 

And Parling insists England cannot afford to ease their way into their showdown with France.

 

"They can frustrate the fans or delight them," Parling said of France, who beat Italy 29-0 in Rome last week.

 

"If you watch their games in this tournament I think they're relying on their pack to build a solid foundation, certainly they did against Italy, and then probably relying on a bit of broken field, someone to do something fantastic or magical.

 

"That's why I think the start's going to be key – the first 20 minutes, probably more so than other games because they probably haven't played particularly well, not as well as they would have liked, but they've still done okay.

 

"In the first 20 minutes if you let their pack get mentally on top, if you let them do something and then they score a try, then they're thinking 'hang on a moment it's going to be our day here'.

 

"Whereas if you get them down, if you frustrate them, if we can get our pack on top, their confidence will probably be pretty low."