France's Grand Slam ambitions may have come crashing down at Murrayfield but captain Antoine Dupont has warned England they are still intent on defending their crown and dashing any hopes of Ireland claiming the title.
Destiny is in Les Bleus' hands knowing that a bonus-point victory in the climax to 'Super Saturday’ would almost certainly clinch the Guinness Six Nations title thanks to their commanding points difference.
Irish supporters will be hoping to have already seen their side beat Scotland in Dublin before the action gets underway in Paris, with an unlikely English victory then giving Andy Farrell's side the chance to claim a third title in four seasons.
But Dupont insists France have recovered from the shattering 50-40 defeat by Scotland in round four knowing a great prize is within reach.
"It’s always a tough week, especially coming off the performances that we did, but we’ve been through this before and there’s still something at stake," Dupont said.
"We’re capable of winning the tournament so it’s been easy easy to quickly switch gears and get our motivation back because there really is a great objective to achieve.
"If we win the tournament, we’ll forget a lot of what happened before, whether it was the good start or the disappointing match in Edinburgh.
"Once you’ve won, all you remember is the winner’s name and the trophy. Maybe when we look back in 10 years, we’ll obviously regret that a Grand Slam is always better.
"But a tournament (win) is still a title and it’s already so hard to win that. It would be incredible to win it.
"I’ve definitely felt a good energy this week. More focus, I’d say, compared to the week of the Scotland match where there was a lot of good spirits but perhaps a drop in concentration, a drop in determination."
England are in danger of finishing the Six Nations with just one win for the first time in their history, although they did beat France in last year's meeting between the sides.
Indeed, the last 12 meetings between the sides have been shared and, as such, Dupont refuses to be seduced by the recent form of the Red Rose heading into 'Le Crunch’.
"You always have to be wary of England. We know how difficult this tournament is. We know that from one week to the next teams can be completely different," Dupont said.
"England are a very experienced team with some very strong individual players who know how to rise to the occasion in big matches.
"So even if they don’t have the tournament title at stake, this match still has a lot at stake for them and I’m sure they’ll be ready."
Follow a live blog on Ireland v Scotland in the Six Nations on Saturday from 2.10pm on the RTÉ News app and on rte.ie/sport. Listen to commentary on Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1.
Watch Wales v Italy (4.40pm) and France v England (8.10pm) on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player this Saturday.
