No chance England will take France lightly – Lancaster

England are chasing a first grand slam for a decade after opening wins over Scotland and Ireland.

By contrast, defeats to Italy and Wales have seen France, the pre-tournament favourites, record their worst start to a Six Nations with coach Philippe Saint-Andre under attack over selection and tactics.

Lancaster, the former Leeds player and coach, is experiencing his best run as England head coach with three straight wins.

But he will never write off an opponent, especially one that can be as dangerous as the French.

“It’s a bit early to say that France are suffering,” he said. “It’s far too early on the back of two games to say France aren’t a good side. They beat Australia 33-6 in the autumn and Australia then beat us.

“While we’ll take something out of their first two Six Nations games, we’ll also take something out of those autumn internationals and make sure we’re ready for them.”

France’s most recent implosion prior to this year’s Six Nations was during the 2011 World Cup when they crawled out of the group stage despite their players being in open dispute with coach Marc Lievremont.

Yet they still managed to reach the final, which they controlled only to be edged out by hosts New Zealand.

For Lancaster, the way France picked themselves off the floor offers a lesson that needs heeding.

“You definitely get a backs-against-the-wall mentality when a team is in the position where they are. You want to prove a point,” he said.

“In the autumn we’d lost two games to Australia and South Africa. We got the response we wanted against New Zealand. France are a dangerous side, full stop.

“France having lost two games and coming to Twickenham with nothing to lose in their minds is a pretty dangerous proposition.

“I see a parallel in their mentality now from before the World Cup quarter-final against England. For 60 minutes that was France at their best, playing on deconstructed attack. They were playing off turnover ball or kick returns and they just come alive. There’s been examples of that in the Wales and Italy games.

“In the final they were aggressive and hard at the breakdown and put New Zealand under a huge amount of pressure.”

No 8 Ben Morgan and fly-half Freddie Burns are continuing their recovery from ankle and knee problems with Italy on March 10 a possible return date for the Gloucester pair.

Centre Jonathan Joseph has been ruled out for two weeks with a toe injury. Fly-half Toby Flood and flanker James Haskell missed training yesterday because of a tight calf and flu respectively.