Moody misses out as Fourie, Thompson and Care retain places on bench for France clash

The Bath flanker missed England’s opening RBS 6 Nations victories against Wales and Italy after being sidelined for five weeks with ligament damage.

Moody had always targeted the France game and he returned to action last weekend with a 23-minute cameo off the bench against Northampton.

But Moody, capped 66 times by England, is not fit enough to feature in Martin Johnson’s 22-man squad for Saturday’s pivotal showdown at Twickenham.

England make one change from the side that started the 59-13 rout of Italy, with Andrew Sheridan returning at loose-head prop after recovering from a back problem.

Alex Corbisiero, who made his Test debut against the Azzurri as a last-minute replacement for Sheridan, moves to the bench in place of the injured David Wilson.

With Moody still out, Otley-born Mike Tindall retains the captaincy as the two remaining unbeaten teams in the championship lock horns at Twickenham with a potential Grand Slam on the line.

Leeds Carnegie duo Steve Thompson and Hendre Fourie continue on the bench whiel Leeds-born scrum-half Danny Care is also among the replacements.

England: B Foden (Northampton Saints); C Ashton (Northampton Saints), M Tindall (Gloucester Rugby, capt), S Hape (Bath Rugby), M Cueto (Sale Sharks); T Flood (Leicester Tigers), B Youngs (Leicester Tigers); A Sheridan (Sale Sharks), D Hartley (Northampton Saints), D Cole (Leicester Tigers), L Deacon (Leicester Tigers), T Palmer (Stade Francais), T Wood (Northampton Saints), J Haskell (Stade Francais), N Easter (Harlequins). Replacements: S Thompson (Leeds Carnegie), A Corbisiero (London Irish), S Shaw (London Wasps), H Fourie (Leeds Carnegie), D Care (Harlequins), J Wilkinson (Toulon), M Banahan (Bath Rugby).