Chessum's blunt verdict on Maro Itoje and Fin Smith dispute

Ollie Chessum insisted England were determined to rain on France’s Guinness Six Nations title parade by showing their true selves in Paris.

Favourites France are locked in a three-way battle for the crown with Ireland and Scotland – who collide in Dublin – also hoping to become champions on ‘Super Saturday’.

England, meanwhile, are looking to rebuild after a run of three consecutive defeats, culminating in an historic first loss to Italy that resulted in head coach Steve Borthwick being given a vote of confidence by the Rugby Football Union.

It does not get any easier for Borthwick’s side because even if France’s Grand Slam pursuit ended at Murrayfield in round four, facing them in Paris remains the competition’s ultimate challenge.

Chessum said: “I’ve not been to France and won in an England shirt. We had a game there two years ago that was very close, it came down to a kick right at the end (England lost 33-31).

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14 Mar 26

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“Before they lost last weekend, there were a lot of people talking about France going for the Grand Slam.

“But Grand Slam or not, we’re going there to spoil a party at the weekend and finish this tournament in the right way.

“We have the desire to go and finish on a high and do things right, get back to what we do best.”

England have been plunged into crisis after falling 23-18 in Rome and they will crash to their worst Six Nations finish of just one victory should their losing run be extended further.

But while discipline and a failure to turn pressure into points – themes evident in their routs by Scotland and Ireland – continued to haunt them, Chessum believes an important step forward was taken against Italy.

“After the Ireland game, there was a whole load of noise around ‘is England’s mindset right’? And we said ‘absolutely our mindset is right, but it was our intensity’,” the Leicester forward said.

“When you say intensity, people go ‘how can your mindset be right if your intensity wasn’t’? But for us, intensity is a real physical thing – the way we run, the way we hit for each other.

“There was so much against Italy that wasn’t right, but actually the way the boys ran and the way the boys hit in defence was what we asked for.”

An onfield disagreement between Maro Itoje, Fin Smith and Ellis Genge in the second-half at the Stadio Olimpico had been used to suggest there was friction amongst senior leaders.

It was centred around a debate over whether to use a penalty to go for goal or set up an attacking line-out and ended with Itoje shouting at Smith: “Don’t argue with me. Take the three.”

Chessum said: “Maro’s the captain. Maro’s word is strongest and it’s his decision. Everyone else will back the decision that he makes.”