Some of the French offloading game comes to the fore and the men in blue make good yardage into the England half.
Jalibert swings it wide to Penaud who knocks it into touch.
Ollie Sleightholme gives his opposite number a little barge on his way to gathering the ball. Nothing malicious but the two grab one another collar in a 'friendly' embrace.
The usually ever-reliant Thomas Ramos doesn't make the kick.
A let-off for England there.
France get some good front-foot ball and the lumbering French forwards hit it up the middle once again.
The French work it wide and Barassi puts a kick through which goes over England's try line and is touched down by Ollie Sleightholme.
But the referee pulls back for an offside penalty.
Antoine Dupont sends a few of his giant forwards around the corner, each of them making good yards.
And then the backs are released.
Dupont feeds the ball to Thomas Ramos who breaks the gain line and the French are in behind the England attack.
Thankfully for England, the attack falls apart and the ball is knocked on. England's put-in.
Tommy Freeman gives away a penalty after obstructing Louis Bielle-Biarrey in the air from a contestable kick.
France choose to go for the lineout and Jalibert gets the French pack between England's 22 and 10-metre line.
Henry Slade misses a chance to get England down the field with a kick to touch.
Some kicks are exchanged before France make touch on England's right wing.
Matthieu Jalibert fizzes a pass out wide Barrassi looks for the young flyer Bielle-Biarrey but the pass goes astray.
First scrum of the day on the halfway line and France get the upper hand.
Dupont picks up and puts in a delightful kick looking for Penaud, but the kick has just too much on it and goes into touch.
Marcus Smith receives the initial kick and gives it to Ben Earl.
Gregory Alldritt charges down the following kick.
The game has started at quite a lick.
Here we go then!
England have one heck of a job to do if they want to stop the rampant French.
Finn Smith gets us underway!
Both anthems have been belted out and we're a quick ad break away from getting started!
It's a monumental match for England.
The English and French players are in the tunnel and about to walk out onto the Twickenham pitch - not long to go now!
England legend Chris Ashton is not sure this was the right game to bring Fin Smith in - the former winger is worried about the magnitude of the game.
He told BBC 5Llive: "I am an advocate for Fin Smith, but I don't know why he's been picked to start in this game.
"Steve Borthwick had Japan in the autumn and decided not to play him. Smith's a fantastic player and he is very much a team organiser.
"It's just a big game to throw him into."
Fin Smith knows exactly why he's been brought into the team.
He told Rugby Union Weekly: "If I can get the attack flowing, get some of the some of the awesome backs we've got into the game, then I'll feel like I've put in a decent performance
"The main thing I want to do is is give those guys a platform and and real clarity about what I want from them and hopefully allow them to excel themselves."
Miserable conditions in TW2 hasn't stopped fans coming out in force for one of the biggest matches in the tournament.
The stands are continuing to fill but other fans remain outside enjoying the last of their - probably soggy - picnics.
Despite the impressive 43-0 won over Wales, French coach Fabien Galthie has also made two changes to his team.
Les Bleus were handed a major boost for the game with Damian Penaud coming in on the wing.
Penaud has scored 36 tries in 53 caps and is just two tries away from Serge Blanco's all-time record.
He replaces Theo Attissogbe despite his two tries last weekend.
Matthieu Jalibert has also come in at fly-half after Romain Ntamack was banned for a game for a late red card.
Steve Borthwick's team will need to be a lot better than they were in Ireland last week.
While they defended manfully, especially in the first half, there was a real lack of attacking threat and Ireland's class eventually told.
Borthwick has made a big change to his starting XV to try and give his attack some teeth.
Marcus Smith has been moved from fly-half to full-back and Fin Smith has come in at No 10.
Freddie Steward, who missed a tackle for a try, has been dropped to the bench.
There is also a change on the wings with Northampton Saints try machine coming in for Cadan Murley.
Murley scored on debut but has been ruled out of this one because of an injury.
Here we go then! A monumental match awaits us here at Twickenham - England welcome France knowing this is a must-win if they are to have any chance of winning the Six Nations this year.
France enter the game full of confidence having put Wales to the sword last week.
They scored 43 unanswered points past Warren Gatland's team.