Six Nations
Lancaster considering minor changes for France
ESPN Staff
March 17, 2015
Phil Vickery reflects on his time playing for England
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Stuart Lancaster is considering making only minor adjustments to his team as England seek a triumphant conclusion to their Six Nations campaign.

Replacement tight-five forwards Tom Youngs and Geoff Parling, who appeared in the second half of Saturday's 25-13 victory over Scotland, are pressing hard for promotion to the starting XV against France.

Lancaster will whittle down his extended training squad to a matchday 23 on Tuesday night and is keen to keep changes to a minimum out of the belief England have improved throughout the Six Nations.

Ireland and Wales are also competing for a title that is set to be decided by points difference, but the likely need to amass tries will not influence the head coach's thinking.

"We've used 29 players so far and that consistency of selection has helped, but there are certainly one or two people from the bench who are putting their hands up," Lancaster said.

"Geoff Parling and Tom Youngs did well. In fact the whole bench made an impact. Kieran Brookes was excellent.

"We've not made too many changes during the course of this championship because I think the team's been getting better.

"Our try scoring record [11] is almost double everyone else's [Italy are second with six tries]. By and large we've got the right personnel.

"There might be one or two tweaks, but there won't be wholesale changes."

Wales open a day of three staggered kick-offs when they face Italy in Rome before attention turns to Edinburgh where Ireland will launch their last attempt at defending their title. England then face France in the final kick-off of the day.

Stuart Lancaster is expected to make changes from the team that beat Scotland © Getty Images
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