Six Nations title on the line at Twickers

Sebastian Chabal has raised the stakes for England's confrontation with France by declaring the winner will go on to seize the Six Nations title.

The rivals will put their unbeaten records on the line when they meet in a seismic showdown at Twickenham on Saturday week.

Both teams enter the match on the back of impressive results, ruthless England looking sensational against Italy and France edging Sunday's thriller against

Ireland.

With the scene set for what promises to be the clash of the championship, former Sale forward Chabal predicts the title will effectively be decided in round

three.

"When we started the competition, it was to win it," said Chabal, the Racing Metro back and second row.

"Now I believe the winner of the next round will win the Six Nations. So we will try to do our best and get a result in England.

"We watched England's game against Italy. They played great rugby, they moved the ball and were strong. But Italy didn't play well.

"For us the first thing is to be stronger with our forwards, because when they go backwards it will be more difficult for them to move the ball around the

pitch."

France coach Marc Lievremont fired the opening salvo in the phoney war as soon Ireland has been disposed of at Lansdowne Road, adopting a unconvincing line

in self-depreciation in the process.

"I'm already feeling something of a headache looking towards the England match because they are looking very sure of themselves," said Lievremont.

"We need to appreciate our win against Ireland and realise that England are very much ahead of everyone else at the moment.

"They have a very physical team, they're intense and accelerate a lot.

"It appears that the other five nations are developing at a much lower level.

"We know that it will be complicated and that we must resolve some issues, but we will progress in this aspect."

Chabal warmed to his coach's theme by highlighting the frailty of the champions, who have also accounted for Scotland.

"We made too many mistakes against Ireland, we are not full of confidence and sometimes it's quite difficult for us on the pitch," he said.

"We have three days' rest now and we'll join up on Thursday, giving us 10 days to prepare for England. We need a good game plan to beat them."

Chabal believes indiscipline explains Ireland's downfall during a pulsating Six Nations debut at Aviva Stadium.

"Ireland know each other well, they play good rugby and move the ball all around the pitch," he said.

"But their discipline was quite bad in the ruck area. That is why they lost.

"They put us back in the game by giving us a lot of penalties in the tackle area and they must improve on this."