Baptiste Serin to make Six Nations debut against England

Bordeaux Begles scrum-half Baptiste Serin is set to make his Six Nations debut as France head coach Guy Noves named his team to take on England in the Six Nations opener at Twickenham on Saturday.

The 22-year-old has played five Tests for France previously after making his debut during the tour of Argentina in June and will take over from Racing 92's Maxime Machenaud.

Having impressed with his performance during last year, Noves wants to put the young scrum-half to test against a rampaging England side, who are coming from a 14-match unbeaten streak.

A year ago Maxime was our third choice scrum-half and he became number one. But Baptiste had a very good tour in Argentina and some good appearances off the bench in November, therefore it seemed judicious to us to see him in a tough match.

"We're convinced we can count on him in the future but we want to try him out in a difficult situation.

"If we trust him, he has to show his qualities in the toughest situations. To only play in the lesser matches, that doesn't seem smart to me.

"Some people want to see him start, others (want him) to come on in the course of a match. We have made this choice.

"We're working on the future, we don't have too many matches therefore it seemed judicious for us to see him in this match, knowing that Maxime is on the bench and that other scrum-halves are pushing behind him."

France team to play England at Twickenham on Saturday, February 4:

Scott Spedding, Noa Nakaitaci, Remi Lamerat, Gael Fickou, Virimi Vakatawa, Camille Lopez, Baptiste Serin; Cyril Baille, Guilhem Guirado (captain), Uini Atonio, Sebastien Vahaamahina, Yoann Maestri, Damien Chouly, Kevin Gourdon, Louis Picamoles.

Replacements: Clement Maynadier, Rabah Slimani, Xavier Chiocci, Arthur Iturria, Loann Goujon, Maxime Machenaud, Jean Marc Doussain, Yoann Huget.