England’s 2018 NatWest 6 Nations showdown with France is an opportunity for redemption, according to Nathan Hughes.
Rugby’s Greatest Championship resumes this weekend and after conceding the Calcutta Cup to Scotland last month, Eddie Jones’ troops go looking to bounce back when they travel to the Stade de France in Round Four on Saturday.
No.8 Hughes made his first appearance of the 2018 NatWest 6 Nations in England’s 25-13 loss to Scotland at BT Murrayfield and believes that it is imperative that he and his teammates explode out of the blocks against Les Bleus.
“Our mentality this week is to have a big start,” said the 26-year-old.
“With France, they’ve got big boys, so if we can move them around in the early part of the game, then that’ll be a big bonus for us and keep the scoreboard ticking.
“If we can create that big mountain for them to climb, I think it will be quite hard for them to get back.
“I’ve got a lot of minutes into the legs, so I’m ready to go if I get the nod to play this weekend.
Click here for the complete 2018 NatWest 6 Nations fixture list
“I’ll be raring to go really because of the performance when we lost in Scotland. We want to turn that around and go back to winning ways.”
Saturday’s encounter could prove wet and wild, with heavy rain forecast in Paris but Hughes insists that the elements won’t put a dampener on England’s performance.
The Wasps man said: “The weather is going to dictate the game, so if it’s going to be a wet one, then our forwards need to muscle up on their forwards and carry us around.
“We’re not going to make the weather change the way we want to play – we still want to play expansive, running rugby and for us to do that, we need to be connected.
“We don’t want to change too much of our game. That’s why we’ve been doing heaps of skills and stuff like that to cope with whatever weather that comes.”
