The England captain Steve Borthwick has failed to recover from a knee injury in time to face France in tomorrow's Six Nations game.

The second-row's place in the team goes to Louis Deacon of Leicester. Lewis Moody will captain the team.

Borthwick underwent another scan on his injured left knee yesterday and was ruled out before the squad left for Paris today.

The Stade Français lock Tom Palmer has been training with England all week and comes on to the bench.

Borthwick aggravated an existing injury late in England's 15-15 draw with Scotland last weekend.

Borthwick, who has captained England in 20 consecutive Test matches, had been carrying the injury for about three weeks but it flared up worse than normal at Murrayfield.