Vickery prepares England for Paris return

England captain Phil Vickery says his players must take "ownership and responsibility" in the Six Nations match against France.

England will be back at the Stade de France, where they beat France in the semi-finals of the World Cup last year, but they have played poorly in the second half of both of their matches in this year's Six Nations and Vickery has only just recovered from a stomach bug.

He said: "I am under no illusions about what lies ahead for us, but I am really positive about it. We have to improve, go out and perhaps show a level to our game we haven't seen yet. If we don't, then it is going to be a very difficult proposition.

"It's France against England in the Six Nations in Paris. For me, it is the biggest game in the championship.

"We are going to be coming up against a team on the weekend who, four months ago, were knocked out of the semi-finals of the World Cup in their home country in front of their home support.

"It is going to take an heroic effort to beat these guys, but we must stop talking about what's happening and ultimately go out and put it on the paddock."

Vickery has also told his team-mates not to blame each other for making mistakes.

He added: "We all have to stop pointing fingers at people and look at our own individual performance and work-rate.

"It is about taking ownership and responsibility. Every small detail makes a difference, and we have just been getting too many things wrong collectively in the second half of games.

"You have got to be careful not to look too much into it, because you can end up trying to find things that perhaps aren't there.

"But at the same time, they need to be addressed and be quite hard on each other, which we have been, to put things right.

"The response from the players has been great."

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