Out of the Irish frying pan; into the French fire. For a flawed, flailing England, this Six Nations start really could not have been any more unkind. Two of the top four sides in the world back-to-back would be a demanding beginning for a side high on confidence and form; for this troubled team, it feels a particularly unpleasant form of rugby torture.

To Twickenham Steve Borthwick’s men return in need of succour to soothe the wounds of the last year. Seven defeats in seven matches against non-Japan opposition have arrived in similar fashion, each time England good but not quite good enough. It has been a brutal run of fixtures since what felt a breakthrough performance against Ireland in round four of the last Six Nations, and the vice only tightens with this French side in town.

“Are you sleeping well?” a French journalist asked Borthwick at his squad announcement – considering the circumstances, it was a strange but perhaps not unwarranted question. The as yet unfulfilled potential his side clearly possesses will no doubt weigh heavy on the England head coach’s mind.

“There is always expectation,” Borthwick conceded. “Any of the main English sports there is expectation to win – cricket, football, rugby – there is expectation and when you take the job you expect that expectation. I would rather be involved with a team that has expectation than one that doesn’t.

“We are in a period now where we have got a team that is growing and growing fast. We are consistently playing against the best sides in the world. We have played against Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, France – so we are being tested every single week. And we have come up short, we know that. The players are going onto the pitch trying to bring their very best game.”

No doubt, there will have been moments of doubt and despair in reviewing the recent missteps. But this also will have been a week that Borthwick will have relished. A problem solver will have enjoyed attempting to consider counters to the challenges that France pose. Mobile and massive, savvy but scintillating, there isn’t a lot that France are lacking – and they boast perhaps the best player of all-time in their ranks.

Preventing Antoine Dupont and his forwards building up a head of steam will be key, but England will have to take their chances in attack. One cannot question Borthwick has been bold and brave in selection in that regard. A first start for Fin Smith at fly half; a rethink of Marcus Smith’s role; a back row that goes against conventional wisdom when facing a side blessed with lineout and maul strength. Go wrong, and it will lead to even more severe scrutiny. Does Borthwick – do England – have the right answers?

“They pose different challenges to Ireland in the sense that the personnel is different and they play a slightly different type of game,” captain Maro Itoje explained. “The non-negotiables, first and foremost, are the physicality. You need to make sure that you are winning that gainline, because they are a team that if you allow them to do that, then they become difficult. We want to be aggressive as a team, getting off the line and hitting them and stopping them in their tracks. That’s our mindset.”

England cannot match France’s game. They have not the athletes or artists to illustrate in the same way, nor the forward brutes to batter and bruise. Richard Wigglesworth, England’s attack coach, spoke this week of his admiration for the manner in which Toulouse and Bordeaux Begles play, and how that is transplanted into the national set-up – the entire visiting backline on Saturday is drawn from the two Top 14 clubs.

England have to do things differently. “They have huge in stature forwards with a great skill set,” Wigglesworth expanded. “Part of that's coachable in terms of the skill set, keeping the ball out of the tackle and keep it moving.

“But the size and stature of the players and how they've grown up and how they've played is certainly something that you can't then coach.

“You're always as a coach trying to go, ‘what is the best way for us to do things?’ Everyone did it for years with the All Blacks: 'they play like this, so we need to do that. [But] you don't want to be a watered-down version of anyone else. You want to be the best at what England do.”

Fin Smith’s installation at 10 may be part of that – a desire to imprint more structure in attack while still retaining the magic that Marcus Smith can offer. “He's a player who can do things very few of the players in the world can do, and I want him to bring all those natural instincts onto the field in an England shirt,” Borthwick said of the Harlequin, insisting that excitement rather than disappointment was the overriding emotion after being moved away from his preferred position.

There is confidence that the younger Smith is ready for this occasion. “He's a calm, collected character who makes good decisions,” Itoje outlined of the Northampton playmaker. “Sometimes when I speak to him, I'm surprised that he is only 21, 22. I'm excited to see him go this weekend.”

There are friendlier fixtures in which to make one’s first Test start. England have almost consciously sought to avoid mention of the 53-10 thrashing that France delivered on their last visit. There has been no mention of revenge or righting of wrongs, just an insistence that this is a different England and a different France.

But that damaging day showed the capacity that Fabien Galthie’s side have to dismantle an opposition. There are a number of lasting images that England will wish to forget, from Gregory Alldritt and Charles Ollivon’s try-scoring passage down the blindside that suggested freedom of movement had been temporarily re-established, to the hapless, helpless Alex Dombrandt chasing Damian Penaud like a lolloping labrador behind a hare bound for burrow.

The abiding memory, though, is just how badly England were blasted and beasted at the breakdown and set piece, providing Marcus Smith, then the anointed one at 10, with precious little stable ball. Fall short again in that area and a fifth Six Nations without success surely beckons. Having been burned in Dublin, England cannot afford to be scorched again.