Oscar Jegou to miss France's Six Nations decider against England through suspension

BANNED: Oscar Jegou will miss France's Six Nations decider against England after being banned for four weeks by an independent disciplinary commission. Pic: Jane Barlow/PA Wire.

France flanker Oscar Jegou will miss the Six Nations decider against England this weekend after being banned for four weeks by an independent disciplinary commission.

Jegou was cited after appearing to make contact with the eyes of Scotland's Ewan Ashman during France's 50-40 loss, and after a hearing on Wednesday afternoon, a charge that included making "reckless contact with the eye(s)" was upheld.

The 22-year-old's previous good disciplinary record was taken into account in reducing Jegou's ban from the entry point of six weeks to four, but that will rule him out not only of Saturday's match in Paris, but La Rochelle's next three fixtures, including a match against Newcastle on April 4.

Meanwhile Ollie Chessum insists England are 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 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).

"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."